Greater Bay Area Innovation Vaccine Technology Industrial Translation Center Unveiled on Guangzhou International Bio Island
On April 26, the unveiling ceremony for the Greater Bay Area Innovation Vaccine Technology Industrialization Center, jointly organized by Guangzhou National Laboratory and Yipinhong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Yipinhong”), was held on Guangzhou International Bio Island. GuangdongProvinceLeaders from relevant departments of the Guangzhou Municipal Government and Huangpu District Government, Academician Xu Tao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wu Shengming, President of the Guangdong Preventive Medicine Association, Chief Expert Zhang Yonghui, Li Yuqiang, Secretary-General of the Guangzhou Bioindustry Alliance, Professor Zeng Musheng, Professor Yang Wei, Dr. Cao Xuezhi, Yang Shoutao, Assistant Director of the Guangzhou Laboratory, Li Hanxiong, Chairman of Yipinhong Pharmaceutical Group, and Peng Tao from South China Vaccine, a subsidiary controlled by Yipinhong, attended the unveiling ceremony.
Unveiling of the Greater Bay Area Innovation Vaccine Technology Industry Transformation Center
Unveiling Ceremony Site
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccine industry has emerged as a key focus area in the new global wave of biopharmaceutical and health industries, and it is also a primary direction for China’s strategic industrial layout. As the technological frontier for biomedical innovation and development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou International Bio Island is accelerating the establishment of a globally leading vaccine incubation platform to rapidly achieve breakthroughs in critical vaccine technologies.The “Greater Bay Area Innovation Vaccine Technology and Industrial Transformation Center” has emerged, jointly established by leading research institutions and outstanding innovative pharmaceutical enterprises in the region, with a focus on the industrialization of innovative vaccines.
The Transformation Center is jointly established by Bio-Island Laboratory and Yipinhong. Through mutual investment of funds and resources, the two parties leverage their respective strengths to achieve complementary advantages and integrate industry, academia, and research. This collaboration supports scientists and innovative vaccine technology enterprises in translating R&D achievements into applications, thereby promoting large-scale industrialization.Specific tasks include accelerating the realization of scalable production technologies and providing demonstration application platforms, establishing a new-type CDMO platform that integrates functions such as academic exchange, collaborative development, technology transfer, and investment incubation, building new and integrating existing advantageous pilot-scale platforms and production resources, promoting the international innovative development and industrial translation of recombinant protein vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines, viral vector vaccines, and other products in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and fostering the development of both upstream and downstream sectors of the vaccine industry in the Greater Bay Area.
Bio Island LaboratoryEstablished in 2017, it is one of the first provincial laboratories initiated for construction in Guangdong Province. The laboratory is directed by Xu Tao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Multiple young core researchers have been selected for national and local talent programs. By the end of 2021, a total of 48 research projects at the national, provincial, and municipal levels had been approved. The laboratory possesses the capability to undertake major scientific and technological tasks and to construct major scientific and technological infrastructure.
PoinsettiaIt is a pharmaceutical innovation enterprise dedicated to drug innovation and the R&D of high-end medicines, integrating research and development, production, and sales. The company currently boasts an R&D team of 261 members led by senior scientists from around the world, with over 50 projects under development. In 2021, it invested RMB 660 million in independent R&D and value-added R&D, obtained approval for 13 new products, ranking among the top 15 domestic enterprises in terms of quantity. It has established platforms such as the National Enterprise Technology Center and the National Postdoctoral Research Station for Enterprises. Multiple projects have been included in the National Major New Drug Creation Special Project during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. With extensive experience in drug R&D and achievement transformation, as well as a mature industrialization system, it can provide solid support for the achievement transformation of the Translation Center.
According to reports, Academician Xu Tao of the Bio-Island Laboratory will serve as the inaugural chairman of the Translation Center, providing strategic guidance for its operations. Moving forward, the Center will focus on meeting the needs of the biopharmaceutical vaccine industry in the Greater Bay Area by enhancing its vaccine analytical testing and pilot-scale production platforms. It will select outstanding domestic and international vaccine projects and provide them with technology transfer and commercialization services to facilitate their establishment in the Greater Bay Area.
It is understood that the Transformation Center will be primarily responsible for technical platform construction and vaccine industrialization by South China Vaccine, a subsidiary controlled by Yipinhong. Yipinhong focuses on the innovative research and development of recombinant protein nanoparticle vaccines, possessing fully independent intellectual property rights in insect cell-baculovirus expression systems, as well as mature technologies for production, protein purification, adjuvant research and development, and manufacturing. Currently, it has established a recombinant protein R&D and pilot-scale workshop exceeding 5,000 square meters, with multiple vaccine product pipelines including recombinant protein vaccines and influenza virus recombinant protein vaccines.