— assist countries to strengthen vaccine research & development

By Samuel Sukhnandan in Beijing 
CHINA-BASED leading bio-pharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (Sinovac), plans to invest US$2 billion in research and development (RnD) and a further US$3 billion in the mass production of vaccines and other products in the next five years.

Chief Operation Officer, Qiang Gao, said the company would also like to establish research and development centres as well as industrial bases in more than 10 countries to better serve the local people, local governments, and people across the world.

“Sinovac has established reliable cooperation relationships with dozens of countries and obtained product sales licences, among which COVID-19 vaccine, hepatitis A vaccines, and influenza vaccine have been sold to many countries,” he said.

Goa made this announcement during a recent event titled “Sinovac Global Media Day” held at the company’s headquarters, which was attended by 84 journalists from 63 countries who are participating in the China International Press Communication Centre (CIPCC) programme.

The top company official said that, up until September this year, the total global supply of Sinovac vaccines was 2.88 billion doses, of which 1.75 billion doses were supplied to China and 1.13 billion doses were sent to countries and regions outside China.

He said that, in the past 20 years, Sinovac had developed 13 types of vaccines that have been used in more than 80 countries and regions, benefitting more than three billion people.

“We believe that Sinovac vaccines and other pharmaceutical products will reach more countries and help people’s health in more countries…. Right now, we also have the capacity to produce enough vaccines to aid in the fight against the COVID-19 virus,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sinovac’s Vice-President and Quality Management Committee Chairman, Weining Meng, said the company is prepared to help foreign countries strengthen vaccine research and development efforts as well as their public health services.

He said that was especially for developing countries, including those in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, to help them make better preparations for any future threats of a pandemic.

“We are not only willing to become a real reliable vaccine supplier, but we would also like to become a strategic partner for those countries’ public health security by setting up a local vaccine industry and setting up some local vaccine development facilities,” he said.

Sinovac has invested US$100 million in the construction of a vaccine factory in Chile, which commenced in May. At the completion of that project, the factory will be able to produce 50 million doses of vaccine annually. This will help the country become the vaccine delivery centre for South America.

Additionally, Sinovac has also donated a vaccine cold storage facility to Egypt with a capacity of up to 150 million doses of vaccines. This has provided a major boost to that country and Africa’s supply chain.

Since the start of the pandemic, Guyana has directly procured 100,000 of Sinovac’s Biotech COVID-19 vaccines and another 20,000 through the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) and COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), which have benefitted over 60,000 Guyanese citizens.

Due to the fact that the coronavirus disease is mutating much faster than expected, updated research and treatments are urgent and important. As such, Sinovac’s Vice-President told journalists that his company has made huge investments to develop customised vaccines targetting the Omicron variant.

“We have collaborated with some organisations to develop new vaccine products like antibodies to fight against the pandemic. For example, we have identified a series of antibodies that neutralise Omicron B2, B4, B5, and others. These antibodies have a high potential to prevent serious illnesses and also promote prevention,” he added.

The aim of this new research for the COVID-19 vaccine by Sinovac Biotech is to produce adequate antibodies to neutralise the highly mutated coronavirus strain, Omicron. The WHO has already said that the new Omicron strain is of major concern.

Earlier, journalists were taken on a tour to Sinovac’s Quality Control Laboratory, and the COVID-19 Vaccine Bulk Workshop which can produce approximately one billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

(NCN Editor, Samuel Sukhnandan is currently in Beijing on the China International Press Communication Centre (CIPCC) 2022 Fellowship at the invitation of the China Public Diplomacy Association (CPDA)