KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 2): Pharmaniaga Bhd, which is the licensed supplier of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, said it supplied finished products upon the request made by the government, which wanted to expedite the country’s vaccination roll-out amid the resurgence in new cases then.

In a statement, Pharmaniaga said “it is pertinent to note that” its initial obligation was to deliver 12 million doses of Sinovac fill-and-finish vaccines from Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd (PLS).

“In reality, the government requested PLS to deliver both finished, as well as filled and finished Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines to accelerate vaccinations in the country through the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK),” said the group, in response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on the Covid-19 vaccines procurement by the government.

“This was also best explained by then Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) Khairy Jamaluddin in the same PAC report,” it added. “It was further stated in the said report that lack of clarity in the weekly schedule delivery from other suppliers affected appointment scheduling. There were delivery delays of promised vaccines from other Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers.”

Pharmaniaga cited a quote from Khairy Jamaluddin, who is PICK coordinator, during a PAC hearing on July 27: “We had to pay a premium, (a decision) which the Cabinet agreed to. That’s because we wanted to accelerate things. Otherwise, we would have to wait until October.”

The government’s request, and the subsequent delivery of both filled and fill-and-finish Sinovac vaccines by Pharmaniaga, resulted in a completion of Pharmaniaga’s contractual delivery ahead of schedule.

“We wish to clarify that Pharmaniaga completed its 12 million doses contractual delivery schedule, four months ahead of time, and the Malaysian Government paid a slightly higher price for additional orders of finished Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine from China to accelerate the completion of PICK,” Pharmaniaga said.

“With the increased cases of Covid-19 infections in May, supporting the government’s initiative in reaching herd immunity faster than planned was achievable as Pharmaniaga had access to the finished vaccines readily available from Sinovac in China.

“Again, the group wishes to reiterate that Pharmaniaga has been very consistent with its commitment to the government in meeting the delivery of Sinovac fill and finish vaccine by PLS, and went beyond to support the Ministry of Health, which in turn, (was) able to perform exceptionally well in managing the pandemic.

“At Pharmaniaga, we maintain the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency in all our business dealings, and we will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who continues to malign the reputation and integrity of the company,” it said.

According to the PAC report on the Covid-19 vaccines’ procurement, Pharmaniaga provided 12.4 million doses of vaccines up until July 2021, comprising 8.4 million finished doses, and four million fill-and-finish doses.

The committee said that the government paid a premium of between 16.78% and 18.12% for the procurement of Sinovac vaccines (finished product), compared with the fill-and-finish version.

Among others, the report noted that the procurement of finished products was “due to delays by Pharmaniaga in deliveries in April, May and June 2021, as well as urgent need [for vaccines] in that period”.

The report however also quoted Khairy as suggesting that “a lack of clarity in the weekly schedule” of vaccine delivery by suppliers affected the scheduling of vaccine appointments.

Additionally, the PAC was told that the MoH had on several occasions got in touch with Pfizer to ensure supply of its vaccines arrived in Malaysia on time, “but was informed of reasons such as restrictions amid global supply”.

Since then, the government has procured additional Sinovac vaccines from Pharmaniaga, with the total number rising to 20.4 million doses.

Shares of Pharmaniaga traded unchanged at 81.5 sen on Thursday (Dec 2), giving it a market capitalisation of RM1.06 billion.