In a statement, the group said the finished product agreement allowed Solbio to purchase and CanSino to supply the finished product vaccine for emergency use in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the bulk product agreement will see CanSino supply the active pharmaceutical ingredients for the fill-and-finish (F&F) to Solbio.
Both agreements are for 10 years and come into immediate effect.
SGB deputy group managing director Mohd Nazlee Kamal said the first shipment of the finished doses will be delivered by August and the subsequent batches are also on schedule.
“The CanSino vaccine, being a single-dose vaccine, makes it more efficient to administer, especially in rural and difficult-to-reach areas.
“This makes for huge savings in terms of logistics and other resources needed to be deployed for the nationwide vaccination programme,” he said.
Both agreements allow Solbio to fulfil its obligation to supply 3.5 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to the health ministry (MOH) and accept additional orders from MOH, state governments, the private sector and other Asean countries.
In addition, Solbio would have the capacity to supply booster shots, should it be required for those who have been fully inoculated with other Covid-19 vaccines.
“With the supply agreement, we are confident of fulfilling more than the government’s current requirement.
“We believe the supply of the vaccine known as Convidecia will help to boost the vaccination rate in Malaysia sharply to meet the government’s accelerated target of immunising the country’s entire population against Covid-19 by October 2021,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said the bulk product agreement will enable Solbio to do the F&F and supply in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and Singapore.
CanSino has also authorised Solbio to develop the business in these countries for the vaccine by working with the respective local partners, authorities and regulatory bodies.
“Our primary focus is to fulfil the MOH supply, which we had signed in early April this year and expect to complete by October 2021,” Nazlee said.
Meanwhile, SGB is planning to expand the vaccine distribution to other Asean countries.
It is in talks with the governments of Thailand and the Philippines for the vaccine supply and is expecting emergency use approval by August to supply five to 10 million doses to each country.
SGB is also on track with the set-up of the F&F facility to produce the Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia.
The F&F facility at Technology Park Malaysia will start production next month to produce up to three million doses per month.
“We are arranging for a good manufacturing practices (GMP) audit by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) in August. Once this GMP certification is obtained, we can move full steam ahead in the production of the vaccine,” he added.
Solbio received conditional approval for the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine from Malaysia’s Drug Control Authority in June 2021.
The vaccine has also been approved for emergency use in China, Chile, Mexico, Pakistan, Hungary, Ecuador and Argentina.
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