According to Cailian Press on September 4th, just one year after being approved for listing, Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products' 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine has already started a price war. Recently, the listed price of the vaccine has been reduced by nearly 30% in provinces such as Jiangsu and Jilin. Currently, the pneumococcal vaccine market in China is highly competitive, and more and more companies are entering this field. Industry experts analyzed that in the current vaccine market, although profits may decrease, companies can only choose to proactively lower prices in order to gain market share.

Following the price reductions of influenza, HPV, and rabies vaccines, the wind of price reductions for domestically produced Category II vaccines has now blown to the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. On September 4th, according to the Jiangsu Provincial Public Resource Trading Center official website, the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, produced by Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products' wholly-owned subsidiary Zhifei Lüzhuzhu, with a specification of 0.5ml, has dropped from the original price of 298 yuan per dose to 209 yuan per dose, a decrease of 29.87%. Similarly, on September 3rd, the listed price of the vaccine in Jilin Province also dropped to 209 yuan per dose.

Cailian Press journalist contacted the Securities Department of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products as an investor, and the staff stated that the company has not yet synchronized the news with the Securities Department and needs to communicate and verify with relevant departments.

In fact, Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products' 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, which was developed by Zhifei Lüzhuzhu, was approved for listing on August 29, 2023. That is to say, within just one year of its listing, Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products has "provoked" a price war in the pneumococcal vaccine field. According to the semi-annual report for 2024, the H1 batch of the vaccine had a issued quantity of 0.16 million doses.

From the perspective of the issued quantity by the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, the pneumococcal vaccine market in China is showing a competitive situation between overseas MNCs and domestic enterprises. The imported vaccines come from Pfizer and Merck, while domestic manufacturers include Sinovac Biotech, Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, Walvax Biotechnology, Sinopharm China National Biotec Group, and Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products.

In addition, more and more companies have entered the pneumococcal vaccine field. According to data from Yaorongyun, pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccines developed by Aimee Health, Cansino Biologics Inc. (688185.SH), and other companies have entered Phase III clinical trials. Kunlun Power, Fosun Pharma International, and other companies have also entered this field.

"All mature vaccines have room for price reductions." Industry expert Li Changcheng analyzed to Cailian Press that the current market consumption power is declining, and the production costs of enterprises are also decreasing. The increase in the number of production enterprises has led to increased market competition. Faced with the current market situation, although it will result in reduced profits, companies have no choice but to proactively lower prices to seize the market.