China's Fosun Pharma to import hundred million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines

A Shanghai-based pharmaceutical firm has agreed to buy at least 100 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, subject to being approved by Beijing. In what being termed as a “€ 250 million” deal, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group said its subsidiary has entered a deal with Pfizer/BioNtech to ensure “adequate” supply of vaccines in China. The vaccine proved 95 per cent effective against the COVID-19 infection has been given emergency authorisation by various countries including UK, US, Mexico, Canada amongst others. 

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“We would like to thank the Chinese government and National Medical Products Administration for their commitment and trust in our vaccine development efforts to help address this global pandemic threat,” said Ugur Sahin, M.D., CEO and Co-founder of BioNTech. “This joint development effort with Fosun Pharma is a testament to the importance of global cooperation and reflects our strategy to supply our vaccine globally. This agreement is an important step toward our shared goal of bringing a safe and efficacious vaccine to people worldwide,” he added.  

Under the deal, Shanghai Fosun would pay 125 million euro later this month to secure 50 million doses. The firm would pay the remaining 125 million euros after receiving approval by the authorisation to commercialise the German vaccine in mainland China. No details have been revealed with respect to when the remaining doses of the vaccine would arrive in mainland China. 

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5 candidates in late phase

Currently, as many as five Chinese pharma brands are in finals trial of their vaccines and with Sinovac Biotech announcing that it was planning to complete a new facility to double its annual vaccine production capacity to 600 million doses by the end of 2020. Sinovac vaccine candidate named CoronaVac- is currently undergoing last phase trials in multiple nations. With Indonesia being the latest addition, trials are ongoing in Chile, Turkey, and Brazil also. Last month, Brazilian trials were temporarily halted after a volunteer died. However, it was soon resumed after officials declared it a case of suicide and unrelated to the vaccine. 

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Image: fosunpharma.com