Sinovac Biotech (NSDQ: SVA) of Beijing raised $15 million to advance its COVID-19 vaccine. Advantech Capital and Vivo Capital have each advanced $7.5 million to Sinovac Research and Development, a Sinovac subsidiary, via a convertible loan that either bears interest or converts into a 7.5% share of Sinovac R&D. Sinovac began a Phase I trial of CoronaVac in April, followed by a larger Phase II immunogenicity and safety trial in May. The company has started building a vaccine production facility capable of producing 100 million doses of CoronaVac annually.

In April, Sinovac reported positive animal data from the CoronaVac vaccine, which it described as a PiCoVacc chemically inactivated candidate. The company also plan to test its vaccine paired with the CpG 1018 adjuvant developed by Dynavax (NSDQ: DVAX). At the time, the company said it had secured an $8.5 million loan to build a manufacturing plant in Beijing.

Sinovac’s product portfolio includes the following vaccines:

• enterovirus71 (EV71),
• hepatitis A and B,
• seasonal influenza,
• H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu),
• H1N1 influenza (swine flu),
• varicella and
• mumps.

The company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, a pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, a quadrivalent influenza vaccine and the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

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Disclosure: none.