China Approves Hepatitis E Vaccine

China has approved a hepatitis E vaccine, claimed to be the world's first. In China the incidence of hepatitis E has increased notably and become the most common among all types of hepatitis infecting adults in that country. The vaccine received a certificate for medicine production in December 2011.

A team of researchers from Xiamen University and Xiamen Innovax Biotech Co. Ltd. in southeast China's Fujian province has worked for 14 years to develop the vaccine, and the ‘863 program’, a government-funded high-tech development initiative, began to sponsor the research in 2005, a ministry statement reported.

China will apply the vaccine to high-risk members of the population and then work with international organisations to introduce it to other countries.