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Sinovac Biotech received an investment of US $ 515 million to double the production capacity of its coronavirus vaccine. The announcement was made by the Chinese company on Monday. Sinovac is the company that closed an agreement with the Butantan Institute for the supply of vaccines against covid-19, CoronaVac.
The new contribution will be made by one of the largest generic drug laboratories, Sino Biopharmaceutical. The investment will mean that the company will have a 15.03% stake in Sinovac Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Sinovac.
In a statement, Sinovac explained that it intends to complete the works of a second factory by the end of 2020, which would allow increasing the production capacity of the new vaccines from 300 million annual doses to 600 million doses.
The company also indicated that, depending on market conditions and the reality of financing, this production may increase even more.
The announcement comes after Western companies like Pfizer and AstraZeneca proliferated announcements of trade agreements with different governments, involving the sale of their future vaccines. To ensure rapid implementation of its vaccine, Sinovac has already sent doses to some countries with which it has an agreement. The idea is that, as soon as the results of the Phase 3 clinical trials are announced, the certification process can be accelerated.
In addition to the agreement with the state of São Paulo, the company has already delivered more than one million doses of the vaccine to Indonesia this weekend. There are other agreements with Turkey and Chile, in addition to the negotiations with the Philippines.
In China, Sinovac’s product was chosen for an emergency immunization program.
“We have made significant progress in the development of our COVID-19 CoronaVac vaccine candidate, which has reached critical milestones in clinical trials in Asia and Latin America,” said Yin Weidong, President and CEO of Sinovac. “In addition to funding CoronaVac, this new strategic partnership with Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited enables us to further enhance our vaccine sales capabilities, expand into Asian markets, develop and access new technologies and, most importantly, accelerate our efforts to help fight the global pandemic, “he explained.
Before the investment announced Monday, two other companies, Advantech Capital and Vivo Capital, had already made investments.
“CoronaVac Phase III clinical trials have been approved in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Chile,” the company explained. “In China, phase I / II tests were conducted with results showing that the vaccine candidate can induce neutralizing antibodies in more than 90% of volunteers who received two doses of vaccination in both adults and the elderly,” he said.
“Results of the company’s Phase I / II clinical trial in healthy adults ages 18 to 59 were published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases on November 17, 2020.”
In Brazil, the vaccine has been the target of attacks by the government of Jair Bolsonaro, who has used the Chinese origin of the product to question its effectiveness.
