After 14 years of deep cultivation in the vaccine track, AIM Vaccine's innovative achievements have gradually blossomed, and it has embarked on a small, beautiful, refined and specialized road of special vaccine research and development in the global market.

In March this year, the company's mRNA herpes zoster vaccine obtained clinical trial approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); mRNA RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccine was approved for clinical trials in the United States in February; by the end of 2024, the company's two blockbuster single-product vaccines will iterate serum-free rabies vaccine and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, obtain corresponding production licenses, and submit a listing registration application.

"For traditional products, 'the last one standing will win', and for high-end single products, 'all will prosper together'. We firmly believe that focusing on the research and development of iterative vaccine series is the real growth engine in the future, which is exactly the 'second curve' opened up by AIM. We will strive for a longer-term corporate lifeline by achieving innovation-oriented growth." Recently, Zhou Yan, founder, chairman of the board and CEO of AIM Vaccine, was interviewed by a reporter from Shanghai Securities News and revealed AIM Vaccine's innovative research and development ideas.

Intensive cultivation of "big single products"

AIM Vaccine was established in 2011 and is mainly engaged in the research and development, production and sales of human vaccines. In October 2022, AIM Vaccine was successfully listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The prospectus shows that based on the 2021 batch issuance volume (excluding the new crown vaccine), AIM Vaccine is the second largest vaccine company in China, with a market share of 7.4%. Freeze-dried human rabies vaccine is the company's commercialized trump card product, and has maintained a 100% pass rate in the batch issuance quality review of the China National Institute for Inspection and Quarantine for many years.

"Rabies is a disease with a high mortality rate in the world. Once it occurs, the mortality rate is close to 100%. At present, there is a lack of effective methods for treating rabies in clinical practice, and prevention will be a long-term need." Wu Jinan, honorary general manager of AIM, a subsidiary of AIM Vaccine, told reporters.

Aiming at the rabies vaccine, AIM Vaccine continues to work hard. On March 9, AIM Vaccine announced that the company's independently developed iterative process high-efficiency human diploid rabies vaccine obtained the "Drug Clinical Trial Approval Notice" from the State Food and Drug Administration.

Wu Jinan introduced: "Compared with traditional first-generation vaccines, this vaccine has taken the lead in breaking through the technical bottlenecks of low virus titer and low yield in traditional processes, and has optimized and innovated the purification process. Animal experiments have shown that this vaccine can produce antibodies with high protective levels after immunization. Under the same dosage conditions, the antibody level is significantly higher than the commercially available human diploid rabies control vaccine."

At present, the rabies vaccine track is relatively crowded. As of the end of 2024, there are more than 10 domestic companies producing human rabies vaccines. How to win by surprise in the fierce market competition?

Wu Jinan believes that new opportunities are hidden in the immunization program, that is, "how many shots" and "how long to take". At present, the immunization program of rabies vaccines on the market is mostly completed within three or four weeks, and there is a lot of room for optimization in the vaccination method. The AIM vaccine can be vaccinated with a simple four-shot method and a 2-1-1 four-shot method, which has a higher compliance rate for patients. Based on this, Wu Jinan is optimistic about the company's product competitiveness and development space.

According to reporters, the iterative upgrade strategic layout of AIM's rabies vaccine is accelerating. In addition to the iterative process high-titer human diploid rabies vaccine, the company's other iterative serum-free rabies vaccine has entered the countdown to listing. The results of the Phase III clinical study that has been unblinded show that the AIM's iterative serum-free rabies vaccine has good safety, immunogenicity and immune persistence, achieving the clinical preset goals.

"At present, there is no serum-free rabies vaccine registered for listing in the world. AIM's heavyweight single product is expected to fill the market gap and become the first listed product." Wu Jinan said.

Focus on mRNA vaccines

In recent years, as an emerging technology route, mRNA vaccines have been deployed by domestic and foreign vaccine companies due to their high protection effectiveness.

"The effectiveness of vaccine products depends on whether the target is accurate and whether the vaccine vector can truly activate the correct and strong immune system response. mRNA technology can fully activate the immune system response." Zhang Fan, vice president and chief research officer of AIM Vaccine, said.

According to Zhang Fan,AIM Vaccine is one of the earliest companies in China to develop mRNA vaccine products. With this innovation speed and innovation advantage, Aimi Vaccine currently has mRNA rabies vaccine, mRNA respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, mRNA herpes zoster vaccine and other products approved for clinical trials. The company is one of the mRNA vaccine companies with the largest number of clinical trial applications submitted in China.

Aimi Vaccine's forward-looking layout of mRNA vaccines is inseparable from the company's R&D strength and the empowerment of the technology platform. Since 2021, AIM Vaccine has begun to deploy mRNA technology. The company is also one of the first vaccine companies in China to obtain independent patents for mRNA technology. The company uses the mRNA vaccine technology platform to support efficient research and development, and has now opened up the entire life cycle of mRNA vaccine research and development, production, etc. At the same time, after completing clinical trials, the company can quickly realize the industrialization of mRNA vaccine products and accelerate the commercialization of vaccine products.

As AI technology increasingly improves the efficiency of new drug research and development, AIM Vaccine is also actively embracing AI. Zhang Fan revealed that AIM Vaccine is using AI to design the antigen structure and mRNA sequence of vaccines.

It is reported that AIM Vaccine plans to use DeepSeek to combine generative models with deep learning technology to optimize the design and stability of mRNA vaccine sequences. By predicting the secondary structure of mRNA, according to the codon preference characteristics of gene expression in host cells, intelligently design efficient component combinations, improve the stability and translation efficiency of mRNA, and generate the optimal sequence.

" AIM Vaccine has always been committed to empowering the company's development with innovative research and development. In the future, the company will continue to actively promote the development of vaccine product pipelines and continuous technological innovation, promote the deep technical iteration and upgrading of various vaccine products, provide the market with a series of vaccine products with better quality and higher safety, and promote the company's sustainable development." Zhang Fan said.

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