China healthcare firms surge after vaccine waiver plan meets EU resistance

China Health

10/05/2021 05:07

SHANGHAI, May 10 (Reuters) - Shares of Chinese healthcare
firms soared on Monday, rebounding from last week's drubbing
after a U.S. proposal to waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines met
with fierce opposition from European governments and
pharmaceutical giants.
    A sub-index tracking health care firms  .CSI300HC  was 1.83%
higher at midday, after falling more than 6.8% last week, its
worst weekly performance in 10 weeks. That compared with a 0.15%
loss for the blue-chip CSI300 index  .CSI300  on Monday.
    The health care sector received a further boost after
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical  600196.SS   2196.HK  said on
Sunday that a subsidiary has agreed to provide a factory to make
up to 1 billion doses annually of the COVID-19 vaccine developed
by BioNTech in China.  22UAy.DE   urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MW06R
    On Monday, Fosun Pharmacetical's Shanghai shares soared by
the 10% daily limit. Its Hong Kong shares jumped as much as
22.58% higher and were last up 17.78%.
    Shanghai shares of CanSino Biologics Inc  688185.SS  gained
9.344% and its Hong Kong shares  6185.HK  jumped 5.14%
    U.S. President Joe Biden backed a proposal last week to
waive patent rights on coronavirus vaccines, but his support was
rebuffed by European leaders who questioned the usefulness of a
waiver and argued that making and sharing vaccines more quickly
should take priority.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MU17D
    The European Union, however, is ready to discuss a concrete
proposal around vaccine waivers despite scepticism, the chairman
of EU leaders said on Saturday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2MV07S
    The jump in Chinese vaccine shares also came as analysts
downplayed the threat posed by patent waivers.
    "The main vaccine threshold is actually more on the
production side, and patent liberalisation will not necessarily
lead to a large number of mRNA vaccines being copied by
companies," said Wang Ruizhe, an analyst at Capital Securities.
    Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines use new mRNA technology
involving the injection of a small part of the virus's genetic
code (RNA) to stimulate the recipient's immune response.   
    Wang said that a strong reaction from U.S. pharmaceutical
companies to the waiver proposal meant there were still
"variables" around relaxations of vaccine intellectual property.

 (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
 ((Andrew.Galbraith@tr.com; +86 21 2083 0079; Reuters Messaging:
andrew.galbraith.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/apgalbraith))