Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 12): Promising developments on the vaccine front have stirred investor interest in companies that venture into vaccine distribution, in hopes they will be in for bumper profits.

However, it is not clear at this juncture just how much or when these companies can cash in, given just the evaluation process alone for a vaccine to be approved for distribution and use in Malaysia will take five phases. The first phase alone — which is the checking of the vaccine dossiers or research documents — typically takes between 90 and 120 days, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

When contacted, property developer Yong Tai Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Wira Boo Kuang Loon said the company expects to bring its Chinese partner's vaccine into Malaysia by the third quarter of this year, at the earliest, on obtaining approval from the MoH's National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA). Any vaccines or medicines to be imported into Malaysia for use here will require NPRA's approval.

Yong Tai in early December last year inked a heads of agreement with Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co Ltd (SZKT) for the development and exclusive commercialisation of the latter's inactivated Covid-19 vaccine in Malaysia. Under the deal, Yong Tai will supply 100 million doses of the vaccine over a five-year period.

To secure NPRA's approval, Boo said Yong Tai has to first obtain all clinical trial results of phases one to three. Following this, an application will be submitted to NPRA for its assessment and approval. This application needs to be done by a licensed contract research organisation, said Boo, adding Yong Tai has appointed Kinsel Sdn Bhd for it.

The company is now compiling the clinical trial results of phases one and two. Subsequently, Yong Tai will work with SZKT to secure approvals from the MoH's Ethics Committee and the NPRA to allow the company to conduct the phase three clinical trial here, which Boo said should start in March and take about six months to complete.

"If the trial results [for phase three] are positive with good efficacy rate, we will then be able to apply to NPRA again for commercialisation approval and roll out the vaccine into the market. We expect the roll-out to happen by the third quarter of 2021, at the earliest," he added.

Meanwhile, mechanical and electrical engineering services company Bintai Kinden Corp Bhd, who is partnering US-based Generex Biotechnology Corp and its subsidiary NuGenerex Immuno-Oncology Inc to distribute and sell their Covid-19 vaccine in Southeast Asia, told The Edge that the vaccine is currently in pre-clinical trials. Hence, it is still early to talk about commercialising the vaccine, according to Bintai Kinden's managing director Ong Choon Lui.

Under its agreement with Generex, Bintai also has the right of first refusal to commercially exploit Generex's vaccine in New Zealand and Australia.

"In Malaysia, we [see ourselves] supplementing the government in terms of ensuring the availability of vaccines in the country. I think the government and private sector should complement each other instead of compete," Ong replied to a question about its target clients in Malaysia for Generex's vaccine, given that the government already aims to secure enough supply from pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer, AstraZeneca, as well as Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya to vaccinate 80% or 26.5 million of the country's population.

Similarly, Yong Tai's Boo said battling the Covid-19 pandemic requires the joint efforts of both the public and private sectors.

"While the government, on its part, has announced that vaccines will be imported from several sources to cover over 80% of the local population, there continues to be extra demand for vaccines from those individuals who want to be inoculated without having to wait in line," said Boo.

"This is where Yong Tai hopes to come in to meet this demand and to provide a safe and effective option for Malaysians. Given our strategic partnership with SZKT, we would be able to import the latter's inactivated vaccine and distribute it to private hospitals or clinics. By doing this, Yong Tai will be able to help the government reduce the waiting line at public healthcare facilities for the Covid-19 jab," he added.

Share prices of both Yong Tai and Bintai Kinden have skyrocketed since announcing their respective vaccine distribution ventures last year.

Yong Tai spiked to a high of 45.5 sen on Dec 7, 2020 after the vaccine deal was announced. Prior to this, it was hovering below 20 sen for over a year. Today, its shares closed at 29 sen, still up 93% from 15 sen a year ago. At its current price, it has a market capitalisation of RM325.86 million.

Bintai Kinden's stock performance has been even more impressive, having jumped over 505% from 11 sen a year ago to 66.5 sen today. However, from its recent closing peak of RM1.39 on Dec 7, 2020, it has fallen about 51%. Prior to the announcement of its vaccine venture, the stock had been trading below 20 sen for three years.

Interestingly, Bintai Kinden's largest and second largest shareholders dumped the company's shares in December — four months after the August announcement of Bintai Kinden's venture into the healthcare business.

Its second largest shareholder Nusankota Development Sdn Bhd sold its entire stake of 50.03 million shares or 14.4% interest in the company in the open market on Dec 16, 2020. On the same day, Bintai Kinden's largest shareholder, Bintai Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, sold 28.5 million shares or a 8.14% stake in the group, which reduced its shareholding to 31.69 million shares or 9.05%.

Besides these two companies, other public listed companies that have jumped on the vaccine distribution bandwagon include Ho Wah Genting Bhd, Kanger International Bhd, K-Star Sports Ltd, Solution Group Bhd and My EG Services Bhd.

Edited ByTan Choe Choe
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