The rapid development of mRNA cutting-edge technology is expected to achieve the next trillion market. MRNA is known as the “master key”. In theory, it can express any protein and explore the treatment of almost all protein-based diseases. The application fields of mRNA technology are mainly divided into immunotherapy, protein replacement therapy and regenerative medicine therapy. In the research and development of covid-19 vaccine, mRNA technology has been industrialized for the first time, focusing on its unique advantages of strong protein expression ability and short research and development cycle. At present, mRNA technology has been gradually promoted to protein replacement therapy, cell therapy and other fields, and its future industrialization application scenarios are very rich. According to the relevant statistics of BMC, the global antibody drug market will reach 300 billion US dollars in 2025. As a treatment comparable to antibodies, mRNA technology. Considering the breakthrough of treatment methods, the help of covid-19 epidemic and the acceleration of technological change, we expect that the market scale of mRNA vaccines and drugs will also reach more than trillion in the future.
Domestic patent application accelerates the construction of industry barriers, and the application of emerging production technologies is expected to accelerate. Uridine structure and LNP delivery system play a decisive role in the overall stability of mRNA drugs. International leaders focus on the layout of the above technical patents. Chinese enterprises are also actively engaged in the research and patent protection of new mRNA technologies, including Cansino Biologics Inc(688185) biology, Aibo biology, s microorganism, Jenkem Technology Co.Ltd(688356) etc., with independent patent layout in the fields of LNP and uridine modification, and domestic industry barriers are gradually built. In addition, mRNA has the characteristics of high difficulty in accurate synthesis, easy degradation and difficult preservation, which makes mRNA drugs challenging in process control, large-scale preparation process and quality control. MRNA capping and tailing technology, LNP and microfluidic technology complement each other, effectively improve molecular stability and help clinical scale-up production. They are the core components of mRNA production technology process. The application of these emerging technologies in production process is expected to be further expanded.
The industrial chain has ushered in historic development opportunities, and the rise of domestic forces has accelerated. The mRNA industry chain involves the interdisciplinary of biology, chemistry, engineering and other disciplines. Controlling the production cost and building a stable industry chain has become the key to the commercialization of mRNA new drug companies. Cdmo enterprises with mature teams and experience will become the choice of most mRNA innovation enterprises. In addition, at present, in terms of key raw materials and consumables, domestic enterprises can provide a full set of materials required for production. In the future, with the gradual implementation of mRNA technology in protein replacement therapy and other emerging applications, the demand for upstream supply chain will increase significantly, and the industrial chain will usher in historic opportunities.
Investment suggestion: with the continuous progress of domestic mRNA vaccine and the expansion of mRNA technology application, it is suggested to focus on the targets of domestic mRNA vaccine with independent intellectual property rights, such as Cansino Biologics Inc(688185) biology, stone Pharmaceutical Group, etc; At the same time, we mainly recommend domestic mRNA upstream industry chain targets, such as Kingsley Biotechnology (plasmid production), Nanjing Vazyme Biotech Co.Ltd(688105) (enzyme), Jenkem Technology Co.Ltd(688356) (LNP material), Suzhou Nanomicro Technology Co.Ltd(688690) (purification filler), etc.
Risk warning: the risk that the investment in mRNA R & D is less than expected; Risk that R & D progress is less than expected; Other systemic risks.
