Chinese pharmaceutical company secures $500m funding to boost Covid-19 vaccine production

Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese pharmaceutical company has secured the princely sum of $500 million in extra funding to produce its Covid-19 vaccine, as the country races against time to roll out more serum for general use.

The Chinese pharmaceutical company announced on Monday that it had secured the funding and also revealed that it will invest $515 million for the development and production of CoronaVac, one of Sinovac’s most advanced vaccines.

CoronaVac, according to the Chinese pharmaceutical company is being tested in multiple countries including Brazil, where final-stage clinical trials for the jab have restarted after hitting a setback in November when a volunteer experienced an “adverse incident.”

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The vaccine “has reached critical milestones in clinical trials in Asia and Latin America,” Yin Weidong, CEO of the Chinese pharmaceutical company said in the statement.

It added that it hoped to be able to manufacture 600 million doses by the end of the year and also added that under under the agreement Sino Biopharmaceutical will receive a 15 percent share in a Sinovac subsidiary, Sinovac Life Sciences.

Earlier, the Chinese pharmaceutical company said almost all its employees and their families have voluntarily taken the vaccine.

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