Bangladesh inks deal on Sinopharm vaccine co-production

The government on Monday signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding for co-production of Covid-19 vaccine with China’s Sinopharm and local drug manufacturer Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited.

The MoU was signed by Health Minister Zahid Maleque, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming, and Incepta chairman and CEO Abdul Muktadir on behalf of their respective sides at an event held at the Bangladesh College of Physicians and Surgeons auditorium in the capital’s Mohakhali.

Officials said China’s state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm will supply the bulk of vaccines and Incepta will market those after bottling, labelling, and finishing.

Bangladesh approved eight vaccines for emergency use against the Coronavirus. The Sinopharm vaccine is one of the two Chinese coronavirus vaccines approved in Bangladesh.

Zahid Maleque said that Bangladesh would export vaccines after meeting local demand in future. He said it was possible to start co-production in three months. If Sinopharm supplies in bulk quantity, Incepta can produce 4 crore doses a month.

“We did not fix the price yet,” he said.

Abdul Muktadir said that they would start vaccine production soon after completing the procedure.

The Sinopharm vaccine was developed by Beijing Biological Products Institute, a unit of Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group. Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said that it was a historical event that Bangladesh would co-produce vaccines.

“I hope Sinopharm will continue its supply according to Bangladesh’s demand,” he said.

Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said China has no political motive or economic calculations behind the coproduction of vaccines and China does not attach any political string.

“The only purpose of China is to make vaccines a global public good that truly serves the people’s interests and help the world defeat the pandemic at an early date,” he said.

Senior officials of the Chinese embassy in Dhaka and officials of health and foreign ministries were present at the event, among others.

The Sinopharm vaccine is a double dose vaccine. Over 85 countries have approved the vaccine for local use including Bangladesh.

Bangladesh so far could collect 30 million doses of vaccine till this time and distributed over 20 million doses among the people.

Bangladesh has a plan to vaccinate 80 per cent of its 170 million people.