KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): Kanger International Bhd will receive 10,000 doses of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp (Sinopharm) for trial purposes.

In a bourse filing today, the group said the 10,000 doses of the vaccine will be for trial purposes and that it will be getting the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities.

“The first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive in May 2021,” Kanger stated.

Sinopharm has Covid-19 vaccine candidates that are undergoing stage 3 clinical trials.

The announcement was made in reference to its plan to rope in K-Star Sports Ltd and Zuellig Pharma Sdn Bhd to distribute the vaccine.

In October 2020, Kanger had signed two agreements with K-Star and Zuellig Pharma. Zuellig Pharma, the largest vaccine distributor in Malaysia and Asia, will facilitate the import, warehousing and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, Kanger’s agreement with K-Star will see the latter appointed as the sales agent of Covid-19 vaccines for private clinics in Malaysia.

In September 2020, Kanger announced that it would be the distributor of Covid-19 vaccines and medical equipment products in Malaysia for China-based Sinopharm Group Hunan Changde Medical Co Ltd.

In a March 1 report by Code Blue, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Khairy Jamaluddin said private companies purchasing Covid-19 vaccines must receive regulatory approval from the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency before they can discuss supplying these vaccines to the government-run national immunisation programme.

Shares in Kanger were 5.26% or half a sen higher at 10 sen, valuing it at RM251.46 million, at noon market close. It saw 52.16 million shares done.

Meanwhile, K-Star shares were 10% or a sen higher at 11 sen, valuing it at RM54.34 million. The counter saw 8.45 million shares traded.