By China Watcher
It is certainly pleasing news this week that the Chinese drugmaker Sinovac will market its H1NI shot at 30 percent cheaper than those offered by Western firms like US pharmaceuticals group Baxter, France's Sanofi-Pasteur, Switzerland's Novartis and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline.
Firstly, it will make the drug available to the less affordable and secondly, it will break the monopolistic hold of western drug companies on poor and developing nations.
In addition to its cheaper price tag, the Sinovac’s H1N1 flu vaccine works after just one dose whereas the Western requires two.
The vaccine currently is undergoing local regulator testing for the right to commercialize the drug after the clinical trials at Sinovac lab had proven to be effective to counter the H1N1 virus.
Expected production rate may not be as fast as the bigger western funded pharmaceutical companies but it is a sure promising sign that at least a non Western company is giving a fight to the West dominated world in which the global’s pharmaceutical industry is largely controlled by US and European firms.
I always feel that China’s biotechnology research and drug development is not too far off from its Western peers.
I congratulate China in this project and I wish that this is the beginning to the production of many more alternatives and options for the world to choose rather than depending on the West.
The future is in Asia.
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