Sinovac Biotech Ltd has received more than US $1 million in research funding from the Chinese state government for its inactivated SARS vaccine development programme. It is expected that funding of Sinovac's SARS vaccine development programme will continue to be partially supported by the Chinese government. Management of Sinovac believes that because of its low-cost advantage in China, this amount would fund significantly more R & D in China than the same research budget in the United States.

Sinovac is the only company in China, and indeed the world, to have been approved to conduct human clinical trials of a SARS vaccine.

The Chinese State Drug Administration, the SFDA, has stated that it is fast-tracking the drug approval process for Sinovac's potential SARS vaccine. Based on the regular drug approval process in China, it would take between 3 to 5 years for a SARS vaccine to receive final commercial approval.

However, with fast-tracking the process, it could take as little as 1 to 2 years. Furthermore, it is still possible for the SARS vaccine to be urgently approved for use in the event of further SARS outbreaks. An urgently expedited Chinese inoculation programme would first target the following groups: 1) the more than 5.2 million medical workers all over China; and 2) the population in a particular outbreak area, such as Beijing (about 13.8 million people), Guangdong Province (about 86.4 million people), or Hong Kong (about 6.71 million people).

The ultimate aim of the vaccine will be to provoke the body's immune system into action, so that it can destroy the SARS virus if infected.

The recent confirmation of six new SARS cases in China underscores the need to develop an effective vaccine in quantity. China's health ministry traced all infections back to a research laboratory at the Institute of Virology in Beijing, where the Chinese Centre for Disease Control was conducting SARS research.

In the wake of the discovery, world health authorities sent teams of experts to China to investigate the outbreak. These authorities concluded that the epidemic did not pose a public health danger. The reaction to this recent outbreak serves to remind us that the impact of a new SARS threat is global in scope. A new, widespread SARS outbreak would likely have a devastating impact on the economies of many nations, when many economies are just now building strength. The importance and need to develop an effective SARS vaccine is a paramount concern for world health authorities.

During the current first phase of human clinical testing, Sinovac will provide continuous updates on the status of the trial and the health condition of the volunteers.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. specializes in the research, development, commercialization, and sales of human vaccines for infectious illnesses such as Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, influenza and "SARS".

-Business Wire