Trends and disparities in the research and development of infectious disease vaccines from 2015 to 2025

Research assessing the dynamic landscape of infectious disease vaccine candidates has been limited. We extracted comprehensive data on vaccine candidates through the Pharmcube system as of March 21, 2025, to analyze the latest trends and disparities in the research and development (R&D) landscape for infectious disease vaccines since 2015. The global vaccine R&D landscape comprises 919 candidates. The top three diseases targeted for vaccine R&D are COVID-19 (245 candidates), influenza (118 candidates), and HIV (68 candidates). Among these, 25% (231 candidates) are nucleic acid vaccines, followed by recombinant protein vaccines (125 candidates) and viral vector vaccines (73 candidates). More than 50% of the candidates are in the pre-phase II stage, while nearly 15% are in phase II (144 candidates) or phase III (137 candidates). Of the 36 countries or territories reporting vaccine candidates, China leads with 313 candidates, followed by the USA with 276 candidates and the UK with 63 candidates. The majority of the candidates are being developed independently or collaboratively by private companies/industry in China (289 candidates), France (30 candidates), the Republic of Korea (27 candidates), Germany (26 candidates), the USA (217 candidates), and the UK (43 candidates). The USA, France, and the Republic of Korea mainly predominantly develop mRNA vaccines, while China primarily develops recombinant protein vaccines, and the UK focuses on viral vector vaccines. Strengthening interagency and international cooperation, along with implementing supportive policies, may be effective in accelerating R&D for infectious diseases in the future.