(Yicai Global) April 30 – Sinopharm, Sinovac Biotech and other Chinese drugmakers are signing up partners at home and aboard to speed production of their Covid-19 vaccinesto help achieve global herd immunity,according to an industry insider.

China’s vaccine developers are joining hands with so-called contract development and manufacturing organizations on research and development, clinical trials, production, and sales, the source told Yicai Global.

Sinopharm and Sinovac, two early Covid-19 vaccine developers, have been testing their jabs abroad in collaboration with CDMOs, followed by deals to make them locally in countries such as Bangladesh, Egypt, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates, according to Chinese media reports.

Good CDMO cooperation can rapidly increase output to help more countries and regions benefit from China’s vaccines, particularly those based on adenoviral vectors and recombinant protein jabs, Dong Jian, senior vice president at WuXi Biologics, told Yicai Global.

Outsourcing is not uncommon. “We’ve learned that CDMOs provide over half of the output of overseas Covid-19 vaccines, with all Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines being provided by CDMO firms,” Dong said.

International cooperation has accelerated Sinovac’s production abroad, according to Yang Guang, its Hong Kong general manager. The Beijing-based firm has secured good manufacturing practice certificates in China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Chile and is halal-certified in Indonesia, Yang added.

Firms do not always need to look far for partners.The Beijing Institute of Biological Products, the unit of Sinopharm subsidiaryChina National Biotec Group that developed the vaccine,has entrusted Sinopharm’s research centersin Lanzhou, Chengdu, and Changchun to pack some of the jabs, Vice President Zhang Yuntao told reporters yesterday.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi