A project for producing inactivated rabies animal vaccines was recently launched in Changzhou National High-tech District in Jiangsu Province.
This is a new product developed by a team of leading overseas scientists. It is reported that it is the first time for China will produce this kind of high-tech inactivated vaccine. This vaccine is expected to replace less effective attenuated rabies living vaccines manufactured in China as well as the more expensive imported products.
In this project, major products of a newly-founded company, Changzhou Tongtai Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., will be produced. With a total investment of US$10 million, the production and sales value are expected to reach 200 million. In the first phase, a production base and research center for biological products for animal use will be built, focusing on the inactivated rabies vaccine. If production and sales targets for the first phase are fulfilled, a production base for the bird flu vaccine and FMD vaccine
(Foot-and-Mouth Disease) will be constructed.
Rabies is a contagious disease, which can be prevented but cannot be cured, threatening the life of both humans and animals. The death rate is almost 100%. About 55000 lives are taken by this disease in Asia and Africa each year. China has a high occurrence area of rabies. According to statistics, from 2003 to 2005, the number of deaths caused by rabies in China is over 2500 on average, which is the highest in terms of number and rate of death of all infectious diseases. Rabies in China mainly infects dogs and cats. Therefore, in order to prevent rabies, preventive vaccination must be applied to dogs, cats and similar animals. However, the homemade attenuated rabies living animal vaccines that are in current, widespread use were long ago phased out in Europe and America.
Inactivated rabies vaccines represent the development trend of rabies preventative measures for animals, which has been widely applied in advanced countries. However due to its strict development conditions, there are no homemade supplies available in the domestic market. The imported inactivated vaccine is expensive, so it is difficult to be promoted extensively in China. Facing such a large dog-breeding market and the severe need for rabies prevention, it is imperative to produce homemade inactivated rabies. Therefore, the inactivated rabies vaccine produced by Changzhou Tongtai Bio-pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. will provide a safe, highly effective and low-cost option.