(Yicai Global) May 17 -- Chinese drugmaker Anke Biotechnology Group will invest CNY40 million (USD5.9 million) for 40 percent of a joint venture with a less than year-old startup company to develop messenger RNA vaccines against potent Covid-19 variants including omicron.

Hefei-based Anke will invest in stages in Afana Biotechnology's project company to fund clinical trials, it said in a statement yesterday. Later, Anke intends to join Afana's Series A fundraiser.

The pair aims to gain approval for emergency use or marketing permission of the vaccines. Anke said the project is checking product safety and has filed a pre-investigational new drug application to China’s National Medical Products Administration after wrapping up pharmaceutical and potency research.

Set up in Hefei last July, Afana is developing mRNA vaccines which contain a genetic message that instructs the body to fight a virus. Dr. Wang Yucai, its founder, has been working in the industry for more than 15 years, according to Anke.

The partnership can bring the pair’s technical advantages into full play and will diversify Anke’s biological product projects while generating new business growth points, it added.

Anke's shares [SHE: 300009] slid 1 percent in Shenzhen today to close at CNY9.19 (USD1.36) each.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi