Shanghai’s Fosun Pharma inks agreement to supply 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Hong Kong and Macau once approved

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Fosun Pharma and its German partner BioNTech have signed a letter of intent with a distributor for the supply of 10 million doses of vaccine, provided clinical trials prove successful

Fosun has dosed 72 volunteers with BioNTech’s vaccine in a phase-one trial in Jiangsu province, and the preliminary safety data are ‘good’, said CEO Wu Yifang

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Fosun has agreed to pay BioNTech a licensing fee of up to US$85 million, besides sales royalties of 35 per cent of future annual gross profit. Photo: Reuters

Eric Ng

Published: 7:00am, 27 Aug 2020Updated: 10:25pm, 27 Aug 2020

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group), which aims to bring German partner BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine to China by the end of the year, has inked an agreement with a distributor to potentially supply 10 million doses to Hong Kong and Macau.

“Fosun Pharma and BioNTech have signed a letter of intent with a distributor for the supply of 10 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to Hong Kong and Macau, upon its clinical trial results being approved by regulators,” Fosun said in a statement late on Thursday.

The distributor is Hong Kong-listed Jacobson Pharma, according to a stock exchange filing by the company, also on Thursday night.

Fosun Pharma aims to complete clinical trials in China and obtain marketing approval in the next few months.

“We hope to be able to commercialise it by year end, but there are plenty of uncertainties with clinical trials as well as the regulatory approval processes,” CEO Wu Yifang said in an interview.

“Pfizer and BioNTech recently said they are on track to seek regulatory review on the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate as early as October this year. If it is approved, we hope to be able to follow suit in Greater China soon.”