(Yicai Global) Dec. 7 -- Shares in Sino Biopharmaceutical, one of China’s biggest generic drugmakers, jumped 4.93 percent today on the news that it will pump USD515 million into Sinovac Life Sciences whose Covid-19 vaccine candidate CoronaVac is nearing completion.

Hong Kong-based Sino Biopharm [HKG:1177] closed at HKD7.02 (USD0.90).

The investment will give Sino Biopharm a 15 percent stake in Beijing-based Sinovac, the two parties said today. The funds will be used to boost the development and output of its inactivated Covid-19 vaccine, which uses a killed rather than an attenuated form of the virus, they said.

Phase III clinical trials of the CoronaVac are already underway in parts of Latin America and Asia. Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Turkey and Chile have already placed orders for the jab once government approvals are in place.

The investment will help increase Sinovac’s CoronaVac production capacity to ensure worldwide supply and will also be used to fund further research, said Yin Weidong, chairman of parent firm Sinovac Biotech. The vaccine maker has a second production facility under construction that should be ready by the end of the year and which will double its current annual capacity to 600 million doses.

Shares in Sinovac Biotech [NASDAQ:SVA], the first Chinese vaccine maker to go public in the US, closed down 0.31 percent at USD6.47 on Dec. 4.

Editor: Kim Taylor