Pharmaniaga Bhd has the capacity to manufacture two million doses of Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd from China every month starting March this year.
Pharmaniaga Group Managing Director Datuk Zulkarnain Md Eusope said the vaccine would be the first to be released in Malaysia at a high-tech factory owned by Pharmaniaga's wholly-owned subsidiary, Pharmaniaga LifeSciences Sdn Bhd in Puchong.
He said as quoted by Bernama, the group will invest RM3 million to upgrade the factory for vaccine production.
“We are confident of being able to perform the task successfully because our technical experts have been working to set up a halal vaccine factory in Malaysia since 2017.
As the Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide worldwide last year, we immediately mobilized our team to work with our global partners, including Sinovac for fill and finish manufacturing and technology transfer to expedite vaccine preparation to curb the pandemic, ”he told reporters after the signing ceremony of the agreement between Pharmaniaga and Sinovac Life Sciences Co Ltd here today.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Senior Minister (Security Cluster) cum Defense Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob; Minister of Health, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin.
Pharmaniaga will carry out content and completion of vaccines developed by Sinovac Life, which is expected to be available to the public by the end of March.
The agreement is to supply 14 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine which will be carried out for content and completion activities.
