In this article, we take a look at the top 10 vaccine companies in the world. You can skip our detailed analysis of the vaccine production developments, and go to the Top 5 Vaccine Companies in the World.
The development of vaccines started approximately more than 2 centuries ago when the English doctor named Edward Jenner treated a young boy through injecting of pus from the cowpox blisters that were found on a milkmaid's hands. These cowpox contained the vaccinia virus, which is the cause of smallpox. This injection immunized the boy against the smallpox hence it was the first ever vaccine developed in the world.
The current pandemic of COVID-19 spread rapidly all over the world and had a devastating impact upon all sectors of the economy. The impact of COVID-19 pandemic was very severe as even the developed countries like the U.S., China, U.K. and Canada suffered huge losses.
However, the developed world wasted no time in developing the Covid-19 vaccine. The United States and China, U.K. and Canada were able to develop and deploy the Covid-19 vaccine within 1.5 years of the pandemic, and this virus has the fastest vaccines ever created. This is a remarkable achievement of medical science, as medical companies worldwide have gone from identifying a new pathogen for the novel coronavirus known as the SARS-CoV-2 virus towards discovering an immune response against it to developing and testing a safe and effective vaccine for it in less than 12 months.
Governments and drug administrators granted emergency authorization to vaccines made by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE), Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) in less than a year, which is also a record.
Several efforts are underway to help produce and distribute the Covid-19 vaccine more quickly. According to the World Health Organization guidelines, every vaccine has to go through the three-stage clinical trial process before being legally authorized as a vaccine. Currently, 60 vaccines for the Covid-19 virus are still going through the three-stage clinical trial process. All these vaccines have to pass this trial before being sent to the relevant regulatory agencies for approval. Considering the urgent need for the Covid-19 vaccine, some vaccine developers compressed the clinical process for SARS-CoV-2 by running trial phases simultaneously. The first phase of the vaccines clinical trial process includes checking the safety of a vaccine and determine whether it triggers an immune response in a small group of healthy humans. The second phase includes widening the testing pool to include groups of people who may have the disease or be more likely to catch it to gauge the vaccine's effectiveness. Furthermore, the third phase includes expanding the pool up to the thousands to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective among a wider array of people, given that immune response can vary by age, ethnicity, or underlying health conditions.
The vaccine companies have started to scale up their vaccine production rapidly, and so far, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) has produced the most doses with 119 million, ahead of Sinovac Biotech's 91 million and AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ: AZN)'s 83 million. In total, AstraZeneca had produced some 413 million doses up to April of 2021. China has produced the highest number with 141.6 million while the United States has manufactured some 103 million. Together, Germany and Belgium have churned out a further 70.5 million while India has produced 42.4 million. Considering the top vaccine producing countries in the world, China is leading as the manufacturing superpower.
According to WHO, Covid-19 vaccination dosage rollout by population is highest in Israel, UAE, U.K., US, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, China and Russia. In the U.S., the top drug companies like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) and Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) have their distribution networks. It has helped the government in handling the first step of the distribution process.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is an American pharmaceutical company based in New Jersey. Merck is known for its mumps vaccine, the primary rubella vaccine, and the main trivalent measles, mumps, rubella (MMR vaccine). The company's total market cap is $195 billion.
Merck ranks 10th in the list of top vaccine companies in the world.
AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ: AZN) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in oncology, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience, respiratory, and inflammation. It is best known for its involvement in developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. The company's total market cap is $149 billion.
The company ranks 9th in the list of top vaccine companies in the world.
GlaxoSmithKline plc (LON: GSK) is a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, England. In July 2020, the U.K. government signed up for 60 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by GSK and Sanofi. It uses a recombinant protein-based technology from Sanofi and GSK's pandemic technology.
The company, along with several other pharma companies, makes the US one of the top vaccine producing companies in the world. The company ranks 8th in the list of top vaccine companies in the world.
Sanofi (SNY) is the French multinational pharmaceutical country based in Paris, France. Sanofi began working with BARDA in February to utilize its recombinant DNA stage to test a preclinical immunization candidate for COVID-19. Sanofi, together with GSK, signed a deal with the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed to provide 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for up to 2.1 billion USD if the vaccine is approved. Sanofi plans to start Phase 1 clinical testing only in September and expects emergency use approval in the first half of 2021.
Like Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA), GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) and AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ: AZN), Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY) is one of the best companies that produce vaccines.
Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It focuses on drug discovery, drug development, and vaccine technologies based on messenger RNA (mRNA). Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA)'s technology platform inserts synthetic nucleoside-modified mRNA (modRNA) into human cells using a coating of lipid nanoparticles. This mRNA then reprograms the cells to prompt immune responses. It is a novel technique abandoned by other manufacturers due to concerns about the toxicity of lipid nanoparticles at high or frequent doses. The company ranks 6th in the list of top vaccine companies in the world.
Like Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY), GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) and AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ: AZN), Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) is one of the best companies that produce vaccines.
