GSK Signs Pact For Shingles Vaccine With China's Zhifei For $3 Bn

China's largest vaccines company Zhifei will pay British drugmaker GSK 2.5 billion pounds (USD 3.05 billion) for the exclusive rights to distribute GSK's shingles vaccine in the world's No.2 pharmaceuticals market.

The deal is one of a series of moves by Western pharmaceutical firms to seize a bigger share of China's market, including announcements from companies such as AstraZeneca.

The vaccine, named Shingrix, is GSK's top-selling medicine. GSK said the deal with Zhifei is part of its efforts to more than double sales of Shingrix, to more than 4 billion pounds (USD 4.88 billion), by 2026.

In a call with journalists, GSK's Chief Commercial Officer Luke Miels said Zhifei had an impressive track record of driving access to medicines in China, citing the company's deal with drugmaker Merck & Co to distribute its Gardasil vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV): "We essentially sought to replicate that with Shingrix."

The deal will result in the vaccine being available in more than 30,000 locations across China, up from 9,500 currently. This is important, Miels said, because unlike in most countries, people can only access vaccines at these locations, and not at hospitals, doctors' offices or health centres.

Zhifei will purchase volumes of Shingrix with a value to GSK worth 2.5 billion pounds over an initial three-year period, GSK said. GSK expects to extend beyond that three years, Miels said. The market for Shingrix in China, and also in Brazil and Mexico is "largely out-of-pocket", and the vaccine's launch in those markets is still in its early stages.

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