Photo/Shetuwang

Mar. 16 (NBD) -- On March 15, Fosun Pharma (600196.SH) announced that its subsidiary Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Industry Development Co Ltd has been granted an exclusive license by German bio-tech company BioNTech SE (NASDAQ: BNTX) to develop vaccine targeting COVID-19 based on the latter's proprietary mRNA platform.

The Shanghai subsidiary will be responsible for the clinical trials, product launch, and marketing and sales of the vaccine in China, while BioNTech SE offers technical materials, preclinical research data as well as the vaccine needed for clinical trials.

"To prevent COVID-19 from further spreading globally by developing vaccine as soon as possible is our common concern," remarked Wu Yifang, president and CEO of Fosun Pharma. 

According to the agreement, the Shanghai subsidiary will pay BioNTech SE no more than 85 million dollars in licensing fees, and provide commission equivalent to 35 percent of the vaccine's annual gross profit to the German company during the agreed period. 

Fosun Pharma's another subsidiary, Fosun Industrial (Hong Kong) Co Ltd, agreed to invest 50 million U.S. dollars to acquire 1,580,777 ordinary shares in BioNTech SE.

Stock of Fosun Pharma rose by 3.75 percent as of press time on Monday.

Email: gaohan@nbd.com.cn