Shanghai Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196; HK: 2196) was approved to start a Phase I trial of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in China. The vaccine, which was developed by Germany's BioNTech (NSDQ: BNTX), has completed Phase I/IIa trials in the US and EU, and it is poised to start a 30,000 subject Phase III trial before the end of July. In March, Fosun signed a $135 million agreement to acquire China rights to the candidate from BioNTech.

In early results from the US Phase I trial of the vaccine, BioNTech and its US partner, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) reported the two dosing levels of the vaccine generated antibodies that were 1.8 times and 2.8 times higher than the average levels of patients who had recovered from COVID-19.

To acquire the rights, Fosun made a $50 million investment in BioNTech and will pay up to $85 million in milestones. In the US and EU, Fosun and Pfizer have plans to manufacture up to 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and, potentially, more than 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021. So far, Fosun has not disclosed its manufacturing plans.

Fosun has rights to develop BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

See our other articles on Fosun and BioNTech.

Disclosure: none.