KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s Solution Group Bhd said on Thursday it has signed a term sheet agreement with the government to supply 3.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by China’s CanSino Biologics Inc and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
The company, whose website shows it is an engineering as well as biopharmaceuticals business, said in a bourse filing that its wholly-owned unit Solution Biologics had signed the agreement on Jan. 29 with the Health Ministry.
The agreement will enable the subsidiary to enter into a definitive supply agreement to supply 3.5 million doses of the Recombinant Ad5-nCoV vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19, it said.
It also said the Health Ministry’s purchase is subject to it obtaining product registration and market authorization of the vaccine in Malaysia by April 2021.
Under the agreement, Solution will deliver the vaccine from its subsidiary’s storage facility to a government appointed central store or logistics partner.
Malaysia has signed two deals with Pfizer to secure 25 million doses of the vaccine it developed with BioNTech, the first batch of which is on track for delivery on Feb. 26.
It also has agreements to buy 18.4 million doses of other vaccines produced by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute and China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said earlier on Thursday Malaysia expects to complete its COVID-19 immunisation programme by February next year, covering 80% of its population of about 32 million people.
(Reporting by Liz Lee)
