China's vaccine industry is booming

From People's Daily Online:

China's vaccine sector will grow 25 percent annually, according to a report from Zero2IPO, a Chinese venture-capital firm. In 2012, the size of the market will reach "8 billion yuan", the report said.

Attracted by the growing vaccine market, "investors from home and abroad will be piling into China", said Zheng Yufen, senior manager for healthcare at the investment banking division of Zero2IPO.

China is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, and most of the companies in the sector are privately owned.

Nationwide, China has over 40 vaccine manufacturers. Other than State-owned companies like Shanghai-listed Tiantan Biological Products and US-listed Sinovac Biotech, many of China's vaccine makers are private and still small in size. "Money is their biggest concern when they plan to expand," said Zheng.

In 2009, a batch of international pharmaceutical firms entered the vaccine sector through mergers and acquisitions. In late 2009, Novartis International AG, the world's sixth largest pharmaceutical company said it agreed to acquire an 85-percent stake in a Zhejiang-based private vaccine producer.