Chinese vaccine maker Sinopharm announces resignation of chairman and director

BEIJING – Sinopharm, a public coronavirus vaccine development giant in China, announced that its chairman had stepped down from the board on Tuesday.

The company cited personal reasons for Li Zhiming’s resignation, according to a file from the Hong Kong-listed company. Li Hui, director and audit committee member of Sinopharm’s subsidiary, China National Medicines Corp., also resigned Tuesday for personal reasons, a separate file revealed.

At the end of December, Chinese authorities approved a vaccine developed by a Beijing-based subsidiary of Sinopharm for general launch. The company said the vaccine was 79.34% effective after phase three testing, according to state media.

Earlier in December, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine was 86% effective.

There was no direct indication that the resignations were the result of vaccine-related work. The company did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment via email.

Different countries have published varying results on the effectiveness of a coronavirus vaccine from another Chinese company, Sinovac.

A WHO team is working with the producers of Covid-19 vaccines from Chinese pharmaceutical companies Sinovac and Sinopharm “to assess compliance with international quality manufacturing practices before the WHO list of potential emergency uses,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week. .