A newly listed Chinese vaccine maker has set its sights on global expansion even as it looks to regain trust in its home market after a scandal last year raised questions about the industry’s quality standards. CanSino Biologics jumped 59 per cent in debut trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, ending the session at HK$34.70, reflecting the best first day trading gain in the city since 2017, according to Bloomberg. Shares of CanSino ended little changed on Friday, easing 0.3 per cent to close at HK$34.60. It is the first vaccine company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the seventh IPO since reforms to local listing rules allowing pre-revenue biotech companies and tech companies to raise capital in the city. “Even though we will mainly focus on the Chinese market, but at the same time we have an agreement to sell our meningococcal vaccines to India, while we are also looking at other emerging markets,” said Steve Chao, chief operating officer at CanSino. The company said it has 15 vaccines in the works. Two of its vaccines for meningococcal diseases are near commercialisation, while the Chinese government has already begun stocking its Ebola vaccine. CanSino also said it is in talks with the World Health Organisation to provide the Ebola vaccine to countries in Africa including the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has also signed an agreement with Italy-based VaxYnethic. “They are one of the top two vaccine makers in Italy and have a well-established sales network, making it easier to sell our products in Europe,” Chao said. China’s pharmaceutical sector has come under fierce scrutiny after Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology was found by authorities in Jilin province to have sold 252,600 lots of substandard diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus (DPT) vaccine and to have faked data on 113,000 lots of rabies vaccine. “The Hong Kong listing proves that the market has recognised our efforts to provide high quality, affordable and innovative vaccines,” Chao said. “We’re not just doing this to make money,” he added. CanSino reflects the Canadian and Chinese backgrounds of the four founding scientists who started the company with their personal savings 10 years ago. Chinese vaccine maker CanSino faces tough IPO sell in wake of Changsheng Bio-technology scandal “We are confident we will win back Chinese customers’ trust,” Chao said. Vaccines in China are sold from manufacturers directly to disease control and prevention authorities at the county level, but Chao said the company would reach out directly to consumers on social media platforms. “We will do our best to communicate the importance and function of vaccines, particularly to new mothers, through new media,” Chao said, adding he was thankful for the effectiveness of China’s Center for Disease Control in promoting vaccines. “Unvaccinated kids are not allowed to go to school, so there is not really an anti-vaccination movement in China at the moment,” he said. The company said it expects its meningococcal vaccines to be approved by the Chinese government by mid-2020, while another vaccine for pneumonia is expected to be marketable by 2024.