China’s CanSinoBIO H1 revenue drops on weaker COVID shot demand By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s CanSino Biologics reported a 69.5% drop in revenue for the first six months versus a year ago, joining global and domestic COVID-19 vaccine makers affected by waning demand for their shots.

The decline from 2.06 billion yuan ($299.8 million) to 629.8 million yuan was mainly driven by weaker COVID vaccine demand as growth in global uptake slowed and price changes of CanSinoBIO’s products, the firm said in a company filing published on Sunday.

CanSinoBIO, which sells a one-dose shot in countries including China and Mexico and is seeking approval for an inhaled version of the vaccine, said half-year net profit dropped by 98.7% year-on-year.

Earlier this month, Novavax (NASDAQ:) halved its full-year revenue forecast as it does not expect further sales of its COVID shot this year in the United States amid a global supply glut and soft demand. BioNTech reported about a 40% drop in second-quarter revenue and net profit but said its upgraded shots to be used in booster campaigns would increase demand in autumn.

Sino Biopharmaceutical, which holds a 15.03% stake in CoronaVac-developer Sinovac Life Sciences, said earlier this month it logged 503.16 million yuan in profits from associates and a joint venture in the first half of this year, down over 90% from the same period in 2021 .

Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, which produces a COVID vaccine similar to Sinovac’s and has obtained approval from Indonesia to sell its version of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:)’s shot, set aside provisions for asset impairment totaling 470.4 million yuan, citing “a rapid decrease” of its COVID vaccine sales since the second quarter.

($1 = 6.8715 renminbi)