KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 — Pharmaniaga Berhad subsidiary Pharmaniaga LifeScience Sdn Bhd (PLS) has submitted the first four batches of the Sinovac vaccine it completed with the fill and finish process in Malaysia.

Astro Awani reported Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba as saying the batches were produced from May 1 to May 5.

"The batches were produced for the validation process and the Good Manufacturing Practice unit of the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency. As of today, 1.28 million vials have been produced for this month,” he said following the handover ceremony for the vaccine by Pharmaniaga in Putrajaya.

Dr Adham said every time a new batch is produced, it takes 23 days to undergo all laboratory tests until it can be approved for the market.

He added the Sinovac vaccine will be used in all vaccination centres, and that PLS is expected to produce two million doses via the fill and finish process each month. The completed vaccines have undergone 17 quality control tests

"This is a good finding for the nation. We have several technical groups who are working simultaneously to ensure the approval process runs smoothly.

"Quality control tests are also being run by third parties including the Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia, where the process will take between 15 to 18 days,” Dr Adham said.

The ceremony involved the symbolic handover of 290,480 vials by PLS to the ministry.