(Yicai Global) Dec. 21 -- China’s first facility for the production of messenger RNA vaccines against Covid-19 officially began construction today. It is expected to start operation by the second half.

The first phase of the factory in China’s southwestern Yunnan province will have an annual capacity of 120 million doses, various media reported today.

Shares of Chinese vaccine developer Walvax Biotechnology [SHE:300142], which has invested CNY280 million (USD42.7 million) in the facility, closed up 6.91 percent at CNY39.44 (USD6) today on the news, falling off from earlier highs that neared the 10 percent daily price limit.

Kunming, Yunnan province-based Walvax collaborated with Suzhou, eastern Jiangsu province-headquartered Abogen Biosciences in May to develop mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 and others for shingles. Abogen is responsible for the research and development of these two types of inoculants, while Walvax will take charge of their subsequent production and commercialization. Walvax is also undertaking the construction of the manufacturing facility whose groundbreaking is today.

Thirteen types of Covid-19 vaccines have entered clinical trials in China, five of which are already in third-phase trials. The mRNA vaccines Walvax Biotechnology and Abogen Biosciences jointly developed that got the greenlight to start clinical trials on June 19 are still in the first phase. China will score the unprecedented achievement of producing and marketing the world’s first mRNA vaccines, as cited in the country’s roadmap for innovative technologies, once the shots secure approval.

The technological threshold for mRNA vaccines is quite high and only a handful of companies in the US and Germany have thus far mastered this core technology, said Li Yunchun, Walvax’s board chairman, adding the mRNA-producing facility the company has invested in and is constructing in Yunnan is expected to start supplying the market by the second half.

Messenger ribonucleic acid is a single-strand molecule that matches the genetic sequence of a gene and is read by a ribosome in the course of synthesizing its corresponding protein.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi