Sinovac seals US$515m fund deal to boost vaccine output
An official pushes a trolley with COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech as they arrive at PT Bio Farma, in the first shipment to Indonesia, in Bandung, West Java, on Monday.
China’s Sinovac Biotech has secured US$515 million in funding from a local firm to double production capacity of its coronavirus vaccine, the companies said on Monday, as it expects efficacy data of its experimental shot this month.
China’s Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd said on Monday a business unit will invest US$515 million in Sinovac Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Sinovac, to help in the development and production of CoronaVac.
The investment will give Sino Biopharmaceutical a 15.03 percent stake in Sinovac Life Sciences, Sino Biopharmaceutical said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Sinovac said in a separate statement that it would be able to make 300 million vaccine doses annually and aims to complete construction of a second production facility by the end of 2020 to increase annual COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to 600 million doses.
Depending on market conditions and the availability of financing, it may seek to further expand its production capacity, Sinovac said.
The funds will allow the company to “improve our vaccine sales capabilities, expand in Asia markets, develop and access new technologies, and most importantly, accelerate our efforts to help combat the global pandemic,” Sinovac CEO Yin Weidong said.
The investment deal comes as Sinovac expands supply deals and trials of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac with more countries following positive results from early to mid-stage clinical trials.
Sinovac has sealed CoronaVac supply deals with Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile, and is holding talks with the Philippines for a potential sale.
Late on Sunday, 1.2 million doses of its experimental vaccine arrived in Indonesia and are expected to be approved for use soon.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a televised address that another 1.8 million doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive in early January.
The government is still waiting for millions of other doses of the Sinovac vaccine to arrive in the form of raw materials that will be further processed by state-owned pharmaceutical holding firm PT Bio Farma.
Indonesia is already cooperating with Sinovac in phase 3 clinical trials of its vaccine candidate, with tests being carried out on 1,620 volunteers in West Java’s Bandung City since August. The government also looked into partnerships with two other Chinese drug manufacturers, Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics.
Penny Lukito, head of the Food and Drug Control Agency, estimated that the Sinovac vaccine would obtain emergency use authorization from the agency by the third or fourth week of January, after the agency evaluates interim results from the phase-3 clinical trial.
CoronaVac is one of three experimental COVID-19 vaccines China has been using to inoculate around 1 million people under an emergency use program.
China now has five COVID-19 vaccine candidates running late phase clinical trials across more than a dozen countries.
