(Yicai) July 9 -- The Chengdu Institute of Biological Products and the National Vaccine and Serum Institute have submitted an application to regulators for the country’s first self-developed quadrivalent recombinant human papillomavirus vaccine, which protects against cervical and other cancers, to be approved for sale.

The National Medical Products Administration accepted the application on July 4, the Chengdu Institute's parent company China National Biotec Group said yesterday. The vaccine targets four strains of the HPV virus and is for the treatment of women aged between 18 and 45 years.

The Chinese HPV vaccine market is becoming increasingly crowded and there are now five such jabs on the shelves. These include a quadrivalent vaccine and a nine-valent jab developed by US pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme. The rest are bivalent vaccines developed by the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline and China’s Wantai Biological Pharmacy and Walvax Biotechnology.

The intense competition is affecting developers’ earnings. Wantai Biological’s revenue from its bivalent vaccine shrank CNY4.2 billion (USD577.5 million) last year from the previous year. This resulted in a 74 percent drop in the firm’s net profit to CNY1.2 billion and a 51 percent dive in revenue to CNY5.5 billion.

In response to the dwindling sales, Wantai Biological is developing a 9-valent HPV vaccine. The Phase III clinical trial results met expectations, the Beijing-based firm said in April.

And CNBG is also carrying out Phase III clinicals trial on an 11-valent HPV vaccine, it said.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor