(Yicai Global) March 24 -- Fosun Pharmaceutical is still discussing with China’s government about approval for the use of Comirnaty, the messenger-RNA Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, in the Chinese mainland.

Fosun Pharma, the exclusive partner of Germany’s BioNTech for marketing Comirnaty in the mainland, is still negotiating with government departments, Chen Qiyu, the chief executive of its parent company Fosun International, said at an annual earnings press conference today.

More than 20 million doses of the vaccine had been administered in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as of the end of last month, bringing in over USD500 million in revenue, Chen noted. More people in Hong Kong and Macau will receive the shot this year.

Shanghai-based Fosun Pharma inked a deal with BioNTech in March 2020 for the exclusive rights to develop and market the biotech firm’s Covid-19 vaccines in China. Then in May last year a Fosun Pharma unit and BioNTech agreed to set up a joint venture to make one billion does of Cominarty a year in China.

Fosun Pharma recently gained authorization to produce the generic version of nirmatrelvir, one of Pfizer’s oral Covid-19 treatment’s drugs, Chen also said.

It takes time for tech transfer and development after getting the license, he added, noting that Fosun Pharma is developing technologies to cut production costs and launch the drug as soon as possible to provide low- and middle-income countries with the product at a low price.

Fosun Pharma reported CNY4.7 billion (USD738 million) in net profit last year, up 29 percent from 2020, according to the company’s earnings report released yesterday. Revenue jumped 29 percent to CNY39 billion (USD6.1 billion).

Shares of Fosun Pharma [SHA: 600196] closed 5.2 percent up at CNY53.19 (USD8.35) each today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione