Recently, Zhifei Biological announced the renewal of the exclusive agency agreement for vaccine products with Merck, in which the basic purchase amount of HPV vaccines reached nearly 100 billion.

　　The Red Star Capital Bureau has noticed that as the popularity of HPV vaccines continues to rise, private hospitals are inoculated with nine-valent HPV vaccines, and there has been a chaos of bundling and selling "medical examination packages", with a general premium of about 2,000 yuan.

However, according to several interviewees who were successfully vaccinated with the 9-valent HPV vaccine in public hospitals, no physical examination is required.

　　The Red Star Capital Bureau interviewed a number of private hospitals. Among them, Beijing Jiahe Women and Children’s Hospital told the Red Star Capital Bureau that part of the physical examination project “can be waived, but refunds are not allowed.”

Qingdao Ruisheng Women's Hospital said, "The content of the package is like this. If you don't want to have a physical examination, you can ask your family and friends to do it. You get an injection, and she (he) does a physical examination."

　　In addition, there has also been a phenomenon of intermediaries selling nine-price HPV vaccines at a higher price. Some intermediaries revealed to the Red Star Capital Bureau that they will pay the hospital at least half a year in advance, and a certain proportion of the vaccine will be given priority to relevant intermediaries after the hospital’s vaccine arrives.

Nine-valent HPV vaccine lot issuance increased

The intermediary pays the hospital in advance to "grab the seedlings"

　　Recently, Zhifei Bio and Merck renewed the supply and marketing agreement for vaccine products.

Up to now, Merck's nine-valent HPV vaccine (trade name: Jiadaxiu 9) is still the only nine-valent HPV vaccine approved for marketing in China, and Zhifei Bio has once again become the exclusive agent of the nine-valent HPV vaccine.

This also means that Zhifei Biotech will still exclusively enjoy the dividend of the nine-valent HPV vaccine within a certain period of time.

　　After the renewal of the contract, Zhifei Biotech significantly increased the purchase amount of HPV vaccines to 97.957 billion yuan, and the purchase amount of the previous round of agreements was 28.106 billion yuan.

　　According to Zhifei Biotech’s announcement, the number of batches of nine-valent HPV vaccines continues to grow.

As of the end of the third quarter of 2022, Zhifei Biological's nine-valent HPV vaccine has issued 12.28 million units in batches, a year-on-year increase of 128%, which has exceeded the batch issuance volume of 10.2 million units in 2021.

　　On the other hand, because it covers the most types of virus subtypes, compared with bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines, the 9-valent HPV vaccine is the most popular, and an intermediary platform for appointment booking has emerged.

　　On February 2, a nine-valent HPV vaccine intermediary online store called "Qingyikang Health Service Flagship Store" introduced to the Red Star Capital Bureau that it is expected to arrange local vaccination of the nine-valent HPV vaccine in about 7-15 days. From 5250 yuan.

　　However, in public medical institutions, the price of the nine-valent HPV vaccine is 1,318 yuan per bottle, and a total of 3,954 yuan is required for three doses.

In other words, the intermediary agency increased the price by 1,300 yuan.

　　The intermediary stated that it is a "reservation platform on behalf of" and is not responsible for vaccination. After the appointment is successful, the buyer needs to go to the hospital for vaccination.

　　The other party also stated that domestic vaccines are all distributed uniformly by disease control. "The vaccination clinics we cooperate with are all regular vaccination clinics certified by the Health and Medical Commission, and the qualifications of these clinics can be checked. Each vaccine has a batch number, serial number, Heat-stable labels, and the vaccine box has a drug supervision code, which can be scanned to trace the source.”

　　The industrial and commercial qualifications of the online store show that the company name of "Qingyikang Health Service Flagship Store" is Nanjing Shengruixin Health Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shengruixin Health"), which was established in July 2020.

According to the Tianyancha APP, the business scope of Shengruixin Health includes the sales of first-class medical devices, health consultation services (excluding diagnosis and treatment services), information consultation services (excluding licensed information consultation services), etc.

　　When the Red Star Capital Bureau asked where its nine-valent HPV vaccine resources come from, it said that it needs to pay more than half a year in advance to queue up for the hospital.

According to the agency, they are one of the many cooperation channels of the hospital, and a certain percentage will be given priority to intermediaries after the hospital arrives.

In the past, when the nine-valent HPV vaccine was in short supply, the intermediary agencies paid the hospital 1-2 years or even longer in advance, and queued up at the hospital to reserve the vaccine.

　　Regarding the future vaccine volume, on February 3, some people in the vaccine industry analyzed the Red Star Capital Bureau that the HPV vaccine volume will be sufficient in 2023. Although the demand for the nine-valent HPV vaccine that the public is concerned about has increased, compared with the previous wait time may be shortened.

　　On January 30, a staff member of the Xihe Public Health Center in Longquanyi District, Chengdu told the Red Star Capital Bureau, "From December 2022, there will be more (9-valent HPV vaccine) on the market." According to private hospitals for HPV vaccines, there are nine-valent HPV vaccines in stock recently.

Private hospitals increase the price by 2,000 yuan for bundled sales of "medical examination packages"

Doctor: There is no such model in public hospitals

　　The Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that in addition to intermediaries selling vaccines at a higher price, private hospitals increased their prices through "bundled" sales.

　　Compared with the nine-valent HPV vaccine in public medical institutions, private hospitals generally increase the price by about 2,000 yuan for external sales, and call the price increase part "medical examination package".

　　On January 30, Beijing Jiahe Women and Children’s Hospital told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the price of the nine-price HPV vaccine package is 5,680 yuan, which includes a physical examination, and the physical examination items “can be waived, but cannot be refunded.”

From its details page, the above-mentioned physical examination items include blood routine, renal function, gynecological ultrasound, urine routine, etc.

　　The HPV vaccine of Qingdao Ruisheng Gynecology Hospital also sold a physical examination package. On February 2, Qingdao Ruisheng Gynecology Hospital also told Red Star Capital Bureau, "The content of the package is like this. If you don't want to do a physical examination, you can ask your family and friends to do it. .You get an injection, and she (he) does a physical examination."

　　To this end, the Red Star Capital Bureau interviewed a number of consumers who were successfully vaccinated with the nine-valent HPV vaccine at the official price (3954 yuan) in public hospitals.

Its appointment channel is either an online platform licensed by a public hospital, or it goes offline to register at a public hospital, and neither is required by the hospital to perform mandatory physical examination items.

　　On February 2, Wang Dengfeng, an expert at the Gynecological Oncology Center of Sichuan Cancer Hospital, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that he had never heard of any public hospitals bundling physical examination items.

　　In response to the issue of bundling sales of private hospitals, on February 3, Ai Qing, a partner and lawyer of Beijing Tianshuang Law Firm, told the Red Star Capital Bureau, "If the vaccine costs are not covered by medical insurance and are completely paid by themselves, I think there is no legal problem. Because The vaccine is not mandatory, and consumers have the right to choose and decide."

　　However, it is worth noting that some scalpers once participated in the robbing of the nine-valent HPV vaccine, and obtained the vaccine through technical means such as programming to make profits, and were held criminally responsible.

　　On May 19, 2022, "Changxing Public Security" announced that Li Moubin, a technical developer of a smart logistics company in Shenzhen, realized high-frequency access to the reservation interface of the online platform by writing computer scripts and other methods, and rushed to register vaccines.

After earning more than 400,000 yuan illegally, he was arrested and brought to justice.

Domestic nine-valent HPV vaccine "on the way"

　　At present, imported nine-valent HPV vaccines are still "difficult to find", and domestic nine-valent HPV vaccines are speeding up their search for the market.

　　According to the National Health and Medical Commission, currently available HPV vaccines in my country include bivalent, quadrivalent and nonavalent, and the applicable age range is from 9 to 45 years old.

Up to now, among domestic HPV vaccines, the bivalent HPV vaccine of Wantai Bio (trade name: Cecolin) and the bivalent HPV vaccine of Watson Bio (trade name: Wo Zehui) have been approved for marketing.

　　In terms of the nine-valent HPV vaccine, according to incomplete statistics from the Red Star Capital Bureau, the HPV nine-valent vaccines of Wantai Bio, Watson Bio, Ruike Bio, and Kangleguard have all entered the phase III clinical research stage.

　　Among them, Wantai Biological has disclosed the progress that its phase III clinical trials and industrialization of its nine-valent HPV vaccine are progressing smoothly, and the head-to-head clinical trial of its nine-valent HPV vaccine with Merck has also completed clinical trials and specimen testing.

　　According to the "Technical Guidelines for Clinical Trials of Human Papillomavirus Vaccines (Draft for Comment)", Wantai Bio's nine-valent HPV vaccine, as an iterative product, can be declared for marketing in advance with 12-month persistent infection. The current clinical design of this vaccine product meets the Draft for comments.

　　The National Health and Medical Commission pointed out that the most high-risk types of HPV that cause cervical cancer are 16 and 18 subtypes, so bivalent vaccines can prevent more than 70% of cervical cancer.

The earlier the HPV vaccine is vaccinated, the better the effect. In the current situation of tight supply of HPV vaccine, there is no need to miss the best time for vaccination because of waiting for a higher-priced vaccine.

　　Previously, Wang Dengfeng also said in an interview with the Red Star Capital Bureau that in recent years, it is obvious that women who are vaccinated with HPV vaccines are showing a trend of younger age, but some infected people have excessive panic.

　　Wang Dengfeng said that although women have a risk of being exposed to the HPV virus after sexual intercourse, the risk of exposure to the HPV virus will reach more than 80%, but more than 90% of infected people can automatically clear the virus by improving their own immunity.

"Only a dozen high-risk viruses have the potential to cause cancer, and less than 1% of those infected have the risk of developing cancer. The key to preventing cervical cancer lies in vaccines and regular inspections."

　　Red Star News reporter Deng Lingyao