UAE launches COVID-19 vaccine production with China's Sinopharm

A new factory in Abu Dhabi will start manufacturing a COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm later this year under a joint venture between Sinopharm and Abu Dhabi-based technology company Group 42 (G42).

The new plant, which is being built in the Khalifa Industrial Zone of Abu Dhabi, will have a production capacity of 200 million doses a year with three filling lines and five automated packaging lines, a statement from the joint venture said on Monday.

The vaccine will be called Hayat-Vax when manufactured in the UAE, but is the same inactivated vaccine from the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group, that the UAE approved for general use in December.

“Hayat-Vax is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be produced in the Arab world,” the JV said.

As part of the joint venture, interim production of Hayat-Vax has begun in Ras al-Khaimah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, under a deal between G42 and Gulf Pharmaceutical Industries PSC, the statement said.

That interim production line has an initial capacity of 2 million doses per month and no details were given about how long production will continue there.

The UAE, through G42, hosted phase-3 clinical trials of the Sinopharm vaccine from July, which later expanded to other countries in the region including Bahrain. The UAE approved the vaccine for front-line workers in September before making it available to the general public in December.

G42 has previously said it has distribution and manufacturing agreements with Sinopharm and hopes to provide the UAE and other states in the region with the vaccine.

The deal was launched during a two-day visit to the UAE by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi which ended on Sunday.

The joint venture also includes a purpose-built research and development hub for life sciences, biotechnology and vaccine production in KIZAD.

“Our joint venture is also actively looking to bring our capabilities to new markets around the world,” G42 CEO Peng Xiao said.

The UAE has said its trials showed the vaccine has 86 percent efficacy, while Sinopharm reports 79.34 percent efficacy based on interim results.