A price war has erupted for pneumonia vaccines, with pharmaceutical companies attempting to exchange lower prices for market share. Recently, public resource trading center websites in several provinces, including Jilin and Jiangsu, have shown that Zhifei Biological's wholly-owned subsidiary, Zhifei Lvzhu, has reduced the price of its 0.5ml, 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine from 298 yuan to 209 yuan, a decrease of nearly 30%. This follows a series of price cuts for other vaccines, such as the HPV and flu vaccines, marking yet another manufacturer proactively lowering vaccine supply prices.

Will other manufacturers follow suit? Watson Bio recently disclosed in a research announcement that the price of its 23-valent pneumonia vaccine has remained stable since its market introduction. Currently, the nationwide average winning bid price is lower than the adjusted prices of its competitors, and the company hopes to maintain price stability for its related products.

Zhifei Biological's 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was approved for market in China at the end of August last year. From January to June of this year, the batch issuance of its 23-valent pneumococcal vaccine reached 160,000 doses. In the same period, the market share of the 23-valent pneumonia vaccine distributed by Zhifei Biological reached 845,000 doses, a year-on-year increase of 3.83%. On the other hand, Kangtai Biological's half-year report for 2024 shows that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Minh Hai Biological, issued 1,369,100 doses of the 23-valent pneumonia vaccine from January to June this year, a growth of 19.25%.

In comparison, Zhifei Biological's 160,000 doses did not capture a significant market share. Industry observers suggest that the most direct way to catch up is through price cuts. China's vaccine industry has entered an era of "low profit, high sales," where companies are competing for market share by exchanging price for volume.

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