Healthcare's next frontier

Asian firms could lead the way in huge biologic drugs market

Shortly after the outbreak of H7N9 avian flu in China in 2013, two of the country's biotechnology companies were quick to develop vaccines, put them through clinical trials and apply to get them on the market.

Hualan Biological Engineering Inc and Sinovac Biotech Ltd both submitted their applications before the end of January this year for vaccines for different strains of avian influenza, commonly known as "bird flu".