Comments on events in the pharmaceutical and biological industry: covid-19 epidemic situation is repeated, antigen self-test or promising

Event:

Recently, Wuxi Market Supervision Bureau held a symposium on the development of family independent nucleic acid / antigen detection products, which will continue to pay attention to the development progress of family independent nucleic acid / antigen detection products and promote the listing of family independent nucleic acid / antigen detection products in Wuxi as soon as possible.

Comments:

Covid-19 antigen detection has advantages and has been widely used in many countries around the world. Covid-19 detection can be divided into three types, including antigen detection based on immunological principle, antibody detection and nucleic acid detection based on molecular level. At present, nucleic acid detection is widely used in China. Its window period is high and its specificity is high. It can detect virus infection in the early stage, but it has high requirements for detection equipment, environment and personnel and takes a long time. Antigen detection is currently active in many countries and regions such as Europe and the United States. Compared with antibody detection, antigen detection can overcome the problem of window period which is difficult to detect in the early stage of infection; Compared with nucleic acid detection, antigen detection takes less time, has lower development conditions and is relatively cheap. As the accuracy is not as good as nucleic acid detection, the United States, the European Union, Australia and other places require individuals to report covid-19 antigen self-test results. Under the policy environment of global epidemic liberalization, the demand for antigen detection / home self-test will increase day by day and become an important supplement to nucleic acid detection.

The epidemic situation in Hong Kong is serious, and antigen self-test plays an important role in the fight against the epidemic. In late January 2022, the epidemic began to break out in Hong Kong, China. In early March, the daily average number of covid-19 pneumonia increased by more than 10000 (March 1-March 10); As of March 10, 246000 people had been diagnosed in Hong Kong, China. In terms of anti epidemic in Hong Kong, antigen home detection has played an important role in a wide range of general screening self-examination. Due to the high timeliness and low development conditions of antigen self-test, the Hong Kong government provides high-risk, specific groups and anti epidemic people in Juan with fast antigen test kits free of charge, encourages Hong Kong citizens to voluntarily buy self-test at retailers, and makes judgments based on the antigen test results in combination with clinical diagnosis and other laboratory test results. With the help of home self inspection, early detection, early isolation and early treatment can be better realized.

Many Chinese companies have launched covid-19 antigen detection products, and only a few of them have been approved in China. (1) In the autumn and winter of 2021, the epidemic situation in the mainland was repeated, and the average daily increase in the first ten days of March was still more than 100. Overseas and Hong Kong epidemics have confirmed the feasibility of home self inspection. In response to repeated epidemics, China does not rule out the use of antigen detection as an auxiliary means of nucleic acid detection. On the other hand, rapid antigen detection is more suitable for airports, ports and other specific places. (2) As of March 10, covid-19 antigen detection kits of many Chinese enterprises have been approved overseas; However, there are only four IVD enterprises approved covid-19 antigen detection reagent in China, namely Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.Ltd(300482) , jinwofu biology, Bgi Genomics Co.Ltd(300676) , huaketai biology. It is difficult to obtain the approval in China, mainly because the registration and approval of covid-19 antigen self-test products in China is more strict, and the large-scale production of products may need to wait for the introduction of formal policies. Recently, Wuxi Market Supervision Bureau held a symposium on the development of family independent nucleic acid / antigen detection products, which will continue to pay attention to the development progress of antigen detection products and promote the listing of antigen detection products in Wuxi as soon as possible. The emphasis of local governments on antigen detection reveals the possibility of antigen detection in China to a certain extent.

Investment suggestion: covid-19 antigen detection has the advantages of timeliness, low development conditions and price. With the gradual liberalization of epidemic prevention and control policies, antigen detection is expected to be widely used in China and has a broad market space. It is suggested to pay attention to covid-19 antigen detection related enterprises: Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.Ltd(300482) ( Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co.Ltd(300482) ), Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech Co.Ltd(688298) ( Zhejiang Orient Gene Biotech Co.Ltd(688298) ), an Xu Biology (688075), Beijing Hotgen Biotech Co.Ltd(688068) ( Beijing Hotgen Biotech Co.Ltd(688068) ), Shenzhen Yhlo Biotech Co.Ltd(688575) ( Shenzhen Yhlo Biotech Co.Ltd(688575) ), Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) ( Andon Health Co.Ltd(002432) ), Wuhan Easy Diagnosis Biomedicine Co.Ltd(002932) ( Wuhan Easy Diagnosis Biomedicine Co.Ltd(002932) ), etc.

Risk warning: the opening-up policy of epidemic situation is not as strong as expected; Market competition intensifies risks; Product quality risk; Overseas orders are less than expected.

- Advertisment -