A staff member displays samples of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at Sinovac Biotech Ltd., in Beijing on March 16. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese vaccine developer Sinovac Life Sciences Co has received about $500 million in funds from Sino Biopharmaceutical for the development, manufacturing and capacity expansion of vaccines against novel coronavirus.

Sinovac Life Sciences Co is a subsidiary company of Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China.

Sinovac expects to be able to manufacture 300 million doses annually and aims to complete the construction of a second production facility by the end of 2020 to increase the annual production capacity of vaccines to 600 million doses, Sinovac Life Sciences said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.

Phase III clinical trials for vaccines developed by Sinovac have been approved in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Chile. 

Earlier Sunday, Indonesia received 1.2 million doses of coronavirus vaccine from Sinovac, according to media reports. The Indonesian government is seeking another 1.8 million doses by early January.

In China, phase I and phase II trials have been conducted with results showing the vaccine candidate can induce neutralizing antibodies in over 90 percent of volunteers who received two doses of vaccination in both adults and the elderly.

Global Times