China Approves First Domestic Nine-Valent HPV Vaccine

China's National Medical Products Administration approved the first domestically developed nine-valent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on Thursday. This vaccine, named Cecolin 9, was a collaborative effort between the Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, Xiamen University, and Wantai BioPharm. This approval positions China as the second country globally, following the United States, with the capacity to independently provide high-valency HPV vaccines.

31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. The vaccine exhibited a protection rate exceeding 98 percent against persistent infections lasting over a year and a 100 percent protection rate against cervical infections.

Notably, for girls aged nine to 17, only two doses of the vaccine are required to elicit an immune response comparable to that observed in women aged 18 to 26 who receive the standard three-dose regimen. Furthermore, for girls aged 15 to 17, this vaccine is currently the only two-dose HPV vaccine available in China. A comparative study revealed that the new vaccine provides immune responses comparable to those of similar international products for at least 30 months following full immunization. These findings have been published in a prominent medical journal.

This new vaccine represents the latest advancement from the research team that also developed China's first domestically produced two-valent HPV vaccine in 2019. The two-valent vaccine received prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021 and has since been introduced in 21 countries.

According to the WHO, cervical cancer was the fourth most prevalent cancer among women worldwide in 2022. In an effort to combat cervical cancer, China initiated free HPV vaccination for approximately 40 percent of girls aged 13 to 14 in 2024, as stated by the National Health Commission.