Thirty years ago in September 1989, 1 1, under the decision of Roy Vargros, then Chairman and President of the Board of Directors, Merck of the United States signed a contract with the delegation of China to transfer the latest genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine technology to China at a reserve price of 7 million US dollars.
In the next two years, Merck spent more than this figure on training engineers in China and helping China to set up two factories. From 65438 to 0993, China successfully produced the first batch of genetically engineered vaccines; The government of China has included free hepatitis B vaccination for newborns in the national plan. In the past 30 years, at least 500 million newborns in China have been vaccinated with this vaccine.
Extended data
China is a "big country with hepatitis B". In 1970s, the first epidemiological survey of hepatitis B in Chinese mainland showed that the infection rate was over 9%. According to the standards of the World Health Organization, the infection rate of hepatitis B virus is higher than 8%, which belongs to a high epidemic area and the epidemic situation is serious.
For a long time, China's vaccine production did not have the ability of industrialization and standardization. Merck Company of the United States isolated the coding gene of hepatitis B virus surface antigen in 1986, and implanted it into the genome of yeast cells that can reproduce in large quantities. Yeast cells can quickly synthesize a large number of antigens, thus launching a genetically engineered hepatitis B vaccine.
In the end, Merck reduced the cost to $7 million. China will introduce Kangtai Company in Shenzhen and a vaccine production line in Beijing Institute of Biological Products. The Ministry of Finance and Shenzhen paid $3.5 million respectively.
From 65438 to 0989, Merck signed an agreement with the delegation of China to transfer the recombinant yeast hepatitis B vaccine technology to China, and charged $7 million for training personnel in China and paying labor costs for American participants, in addition, it no longer charged patent fees and profits.
China Youth Network-Cooperation "Gene" in Vaccine
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