ISLAMABAD, Mar. 19 : /DNA/ – Chinese companies to step up pharmaceutical cooperation with Pakistan, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Saturday.

“Having provided over 20 million doses of vaccine made in Pakistan, we expect to deepen cooperation with this country”, said Mr. Xin Chunlin from CanSino at a CPEC B2B Conference.

In the conference organized by the Board of Investment (BOI) , Pakistan, providers of original new drugs and traditional Chinese medicines including Luye Life Sciences Group, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Zhongyi Pharmaceutical, Guangzhou Qixing Pharmaceutical also expressed their intention to cooperate with potential Pakistani partners. 

“Facing the common challenge of the ongoing pandemic, joining hands with the Pakistani brothers will bring benefits for both peoples”, Mr. Xin added. 

CanSino is a renowned Chinese pharmaceutical company that has launched the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine branded PakVac locally produced in Pakistan last year. 

According to Ms. Ghazala Parveen, Chief Biological Production Division, National Health Institute, Pakistan, PakVac is producing more than 3 million doses per month, exceeding the initial expectation of 1 million and cutting the cost by 25%. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan welcomes investment in the medicine sector.“Pakistani pharmaceutical sector is ripe for investment”, said Mr. Muhammad Radimuddin, Senior Techical Advisor to USP, on the conference.

Comprising of 700 plus manufacturers and thousand of distributors, Pakistan’s $4 billion pharmaceutical market has been growing at a pace of 12.5% CAGR.

“The potential of pharmaceutical exports with right partners is exponential”, Muhammad said. He also believed that as global generic medicine market is expected to grow to about $700 billion by 2025, this is an opportunity for Pakistani industry to take a larger share. 

A case in point is that during the pandemic Pakistan was able to start local production and export the key covid-19 drug Remdesivir to 16 countries through joint ventures with foreign companies.

Muhammad and Mr. Xin coincide in thinking that more cooperation of this type can happen. 

Apart from attending the CPEC B2B Conference, CanSino also met with Pakistani president Dr. Arif Alvi this week and informed him of the latest developments. 

On Mar. 10, data published by in medRvix, the preprint server for Health Sciences operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, proved that the aerosolized AD5-Ncov third-generation vaccine has higher protection as booster against Omicron.