Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

SHENZHEN Kangtai Biological Products Co., one of China’s top vaccine makers, has obtained a permit to produce Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine for Indonesia and Pakistan.

AstraZeneca （Astra）will support Shenzhen Kangtai in emergency use and market authorization of the adenovirus-based vaccine in certain aspects in the two Asian countries, the Shenzhen-listed firm said in a statement Monday.

Shenzhen Kangtai inked a deal with AstraZeneca in August last year to produce AstraZeneca’s potential COVID-19 vaccine on the Chinese mainland. As part of the deal, Shenzhen Kangtai would ensure it had annual production capacity of at least 100 million doses of the experimental shot AZD1222, which AstraZeneca co-developed with researchers at Oxford University, by the end of 2020, according to AstraZeneca.

Shenzhen Kangtai also must have capacity to produce at least 200 million doses by the end of this year as part of the exclusive framework agreement.

Shenzhen Kangtai, whose main products are vaccines for Hepatitis B, flu and measles and rubella, said in February that it had completed a facility designed to be able to produce 400 million doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine per year, doubling the capacity target promised in 2020.

Shenzhen Kangtai said in its statement Monday that it has the capability to produce the vaccine and it expects to export the vaccine to Indonesia and Pakistan to help address a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in the developing countries.

In May, China’s drug regulator gave emergency use approval to a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Shenzhen Kangtai, making it the sixth shot in the country’s vaccination drive.