Full Press Release Details
to Temporarily Suspend Flu Vaccine Production Due to Disruptive Actions taken by Minority Shareholder of Sinovac Beijing
May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) ("Sinovac " or the "Company"), a leading provider
of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced it has been forced to temporarily suspend its flu vaccine production and
destroy the flu vaccines it is currently producing. The Company expects this will result in its inability to supply flu vaccines
for the 2018 to 2019 flu season. These decisions have been made necessary by the actions taken by Aihua Pan, the Chairman of the
Board of the Company's controlled Chinese subsidiary, Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. ("Sinovac Beijing"), who was appointed
Chairman by Sinobioway Biomedicine Co., Ltd. ("Sinobioway"), the minority shareholder of Sinovac Beijing.
previously announced, on April 17, 2018, Mr. Pan and dozens of unnamed individuals forcibly entered Sinovac Beijing's corporate
offices in Shangdi site and limited the physical movement of the employees in Sinovac Beijing's general manager's office and finance
department. This was in an attempt to take control of Sinovac Beijing's official seal, legal documents, accounting seal, financial
documents and financial information systems. In attempting to forcibly take control of the Company's corporate offices, these
individuals cut power to the facility in Shangdi site, thereby disrupting Sinovac Beijing's hepatitis A and seasonal flu vaccine
production, seriously impacting Sinovac Beijing's production and manufacturing processes and very possibly damaging product quality.
Beijing initiated its emergency response protocol and resumed production and quality management activities step-by-step. Once
flu vaccine production was resumed, the quality assurance department performed several assessments of the production environment
and vaccine safety. Unfortunately, it was determined that the quality and safety risks associated with salvaging these vaccines
were not able to be completely eliminated. The Company is assessing the risk associated with other vaccine production at Shangdi
Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical Company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization
of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac's product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71,
or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. Healive,
the hepatitis A vaccine manufactured by the Company has passed the assessment under WHO Prequalification procedures in 2017. The
EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized
in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it
has supplied to the Chinese Government's vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of
the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products
including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella
vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The
Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America.
may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements
are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking
statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future,"
"intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Forward-looking statements
involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any
Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Tel: +86-10-8279-9871
Fax: +86-10-6296-6910
Email: ir@sinovac.com
Tel : 1-646 277 1258
Email : Phil.denning@icrinc.com
Tel : +86 10 6583 7510
Email : Edmond.Lococo@icrinc.com
Tel: 1-203--682-8233
Email: william.zima@icrinc.com