Multiple factors were behind Merck & Co’s rise to ace AstraZeneca and others to become the leading pharma multinational in the world’s second-largest pharma market in 2023, including partnerships and competition and a strong position in the growing HPV vaccine sector.

GSK is betting on a new partnership to more quickly ramp up patient access to its vaccines in the potentially vast market of China, amid rising demand and competition.

As the Communist Party of China gears up for its once in every five years National Congress late this fall, the need for more novel drugs to help address the persistent coronavirus pandemic is rising amid the country’s strict “COVID Zero” policies.

Serum Institute will supply initial doses of NVX-CoV2373 in the US, but late approvals have meant Novavax's vaccine is facing weak demand and surplus stocks in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, Serum has also secured a nod in India for the first indigenously-developed HPV vaccine, also the fifth globally.