Sinovac Scores Big with Bird Flu Vaccine

Dec 27: Sinovac announces clinical trials of a potential vaccine for avian bird flu. Allowed by the Chinese to fast-track human testing this is exciting news for the company shareholders.

It is too easy to be fooled into thinking a cure is here, remember that the announcements come as company PR press releases rather than from the scientific community.

This company in country being hit economically by bad publicity over virus spread is a shining light for the government spreading good news on China for a change.

Sinovac, masters of working the press and government, have recently scored RMB 7 million worth of funding from China's Ministry of Science and Technology. This is in addition to over US$1 million in government funding received in 2004.

Notable is the timing
Dec 12 Reaped RMB 7 million of funding
Dec 21 Announcement of vaccine ready for trials
Dec 21 Government approval to fast track human testing to only two phases

Panflu possibly a combination of Anflu - translated from Chinese into English as "If you live in safe, you are very lucky" does not instill faith into the capability of the vaccine. However cashing in on a shorter sharper established Tamiflu marketing brand will be of benefit.

Is this really the pandemic cure we all hope for, or merely a PR exercise for China?

References:

Sinovac Company Overview
PRNnewswire
China CSR Sinovac_biotech
Bird flu information