- Two mRNA vaccines in development
- CAI: Europe’s surrender in the information war
- China invests heavily in German tech sector
- Beijing’s EU ambassador warns of sanctions over Xinjiang
- Signal blocked in China
- Romney calls for economic and political Olympics boycott
- Myanmar: Beijing evacuates workers
- Huawei demands royalties for 5G patents
- Shang-Jin Wei: Why should Biden ditch Trump’s China tariffs?
细节决定成败 – The devil is in the details. After Amelie Richter went through the annexes of the EU-China investment agreement CAI which is still almost hot off the press for issue 39 of the China.Table briefing, we want to delve deeper into the details in the coming days. For more on the implications of the agreement for German and European market participants, read our China.Table analyses on the CAI. We start with Michael Radunski. He examines the planned regulations for the media. His conclusion: In important areas of media and information, the EU is letting itself get ripped off by China.
The development of state-of-the-art drugs based on mRNA promises enormous market potential. The principle has only become known to the public since the pandemic and the development of vaccines. Finn Mayer-Kuckuk looks into the mRNA research of Chinese companies and also sheds light on the background of the international battle for the best COVID vaccines.
Germany’s technology sector is the focus of Chinese investors. This is shown by a study conducted by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in cooperation with Peking University. For China, access to German companies also means that doors are opening to key technologies.
Ning Wang
Feature
Two mRNA vaccines in development
China’s ambition to one day be on a par with the EU and the US in terms of technology also affects biomedicine. Rather unnoticed by the public, two groups are working on vaccinations based on mRNA technology, which is considered the front line of modern disease control. The vaccine produced by Biontech, the majority of which is used in Germany, also uses mRNA. In the long term, China wants to enter the development and production of corresponding drugs on a large scale and become independent of the West in this area as well.
The first company with an mRNA vaccine in development is called Stemirna Therapeutics. This initially unwieldy-sounding name becomes a little easier to understand when looking at the logo: the “RNA” at the end is highlighted in color. The company is working on a stem cell database in the second branch of research – this explains the first part of the name, which is derived from the English “stem cell”. In Chinese, the company is called “Si Weishengwu” (斯微生物), or Siwei for short. It is based in Shanghai and develops the mRNA agents together with Tongji University.
The financial and distribution partner is the pharmaceutical company Tibet Rhodiola from Lhasa. The company has already appeared as a vaccine manufacturer and is currently also producing Sputnik V on behalf of Russia. Stemirna and Tibet Rhodiola are currently starting a clinical trial of the mRNA vaccine. The companies are still keeping quiet about the details.
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