HONG KONG, Dec 7, 2020 - (ACN Newswire) - Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited ("Sino Biopharm" or the "Group"; HKEX: 1177) has announced the investment of US$515 million in Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd. ("Sinovac LS", previously known as Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd.), which will be funded by internal resources of the Group and result in a 15.03% equity interest in Sinovac LS. The investment will help Sinovac enhance its R&D and production capabilities of CoronaVac, a COVID-19 vaccine, and other development and operational activities of Sinovac LS. The investment also marks Sino Biopharm's foray into vaccine R&D and production.

Sinovac LS, which is principally engaged in the business of R&D of vaccines for human use, has made significant progress in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac. It is not only the first to successfully develop an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, but also one of the few enterprises in China that can produce such vaccines on a large scale. On 13 April 2020, clinical research of CoronaVac has been officially approved by China National Medical Products Administration. Its phase III clinical trials have also been approved in Brazil, Indonesia, Turkey and Chile. Currently, Sinovac LS has received orders from various countries. The win-win cooperation is expected to increase the competitiveness of China made COVID-19 vaccines in the global market.

According to various estimates, the global demand for COVID-19 vaccines may be on the order of tens of billions of doses, while the vaccine production capacity of enterprises in the PRC is expected to be at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021. Capitalizing on the Group's strong industrialization capabilities, Sino Biopharm's investment will enable Sinovac LS to rapidly expand the production capacity of the COVID-19 vaccine, so as to rapidly meet the procurement demand from China, and even globally.

Entering into the field of preventive vaccines is complementary to the Group's existing curative drug products, and also accelerates the Group's strategy of a "Fully-integrated Biopharmaceutical Value Chain". Moreover, given that preventive therapy products have a lower risk of being impacted by the national centralized drug procurement policies, the investment will enhance the Group's overall operational resilience.

As a leading innovative R&D driven pharmaceutical conglomerate in the PRC, Sino Biopharm continues to introduce innovative products through business development, in addition to its internal research and development. The cooperation with Sinovac LS can quickly provide the market with a much-needed innovative product, which is consistent with the strategic direction of Sino Biopharm. Furthermore, Sino Biopharm will expand its business network with foreign governments, regulatory authorities and business partners through the cooperation, commercialization and investment of COVID-19 vaccine in overseas markets, thereby accelerating the Group's internationalization plans through improving market access and scale.

"Sino Biopharm wishes to help control the COVID-19 pandemic faster through the joint efforts with its partner, contributing to public health prevention in the PRC and around the world, and extending from sole focus on disease treatment to life cycle health management, thereby ultimately realizing its corporate responsibility for people's health, life safety and even the well-being of all mankind." said Ms. Theresa Tse, Chairwomen of Sino Biopharm.

About Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited (HKEX:1177)Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited is a leading, innovative R&D driven pharmaceutical conglomerate in the PRC. Its business encompasses a fully-integrated chain which covers an array of R&D platforms, a line-up of intelligent production and a strong sales system. The Group's products have gained a competitive foothold in various therapeutic categories with promising potentials, comprising a variety of biopharmaceutical and chemical medicines for treating tumors, liver diseases, respiratory system diseases, anti-infectious diseases and orthopedic diseases.

Sino Biopharm is a constituent stock of the following indices: MSCI Global Standard Indices - MSCI China Index, Hang Seng Index, Hang Seng Index - Commerce & Industry, Hang Seng Composite Index, Hang Seng Composite Industry Index - Consumer Goods, Hang Seng Composite LargeCap Index, Hang Seng Composite LargeCap & MidCap Index, Hang Seng China (Hong Kong-listed) 100 Index and Hang Seng Stock Connect Hong Kong Index. Sino Biopharm was ranked as one of "Asia's Fab 50 Companies" by Forbes Asia for three consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

About Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd.,* previously known as Sinovac Research and Development Co., Ltd., is a research-based company incorporated in 2009 that conducts human vaccine research, development, manufacturing, and sales. It develops several human vaccines, including vaccines against pneumonia, DTaP, Hib, and hepatitis B. Sinovac LS also engages to develop several combo vaccines. Sinovac LS was granted 12 patents in vaccine technologies in China. The inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, or CoronaVac, developed by Sinovac LS is being tested in phase III trials in several countries outside of China. Sinovac LS will be the marketing authorization holder of CoronaVac in China with a vaccine production license issued by China National Medical Products Administration if the vaccine is successfully developed.

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