MP accuses Pharmaniaga of profiteering from Sinovac sales

 

PARLIAMENT | Teo Nie Ching (Harapan–Kulai) has accused Pharmaniaga Berhad of profiteering from sales of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine by charging state governments and the private market as much as double the price it charged the federal government.

She also questioned the government for failing to act against Pharmaniaga’s behaviour, which she said is unfair.

According to Teo (above), the company is selling the vaccines at US$30 (RM126.90) for a course of two doses, but the same vaccine series is being sold at RM300 to state governments and the private market.

“Pharmaniaga is certainly allowed to make a profit. However, we should not allow them to profit abundantly from selling vaccines especially with a profit rate which is more than 100 percent.

“If vaccines are literally a life and death issue and a complete necessity then a government-linked company cannot be allowed to profit this way,” she said during committee-stage debate of the Health Ministry’s 2022 budget at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Deputy Health Minister I Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali (PN–Bagan Serai), who was fielding MPs’ questions at the time, did not manage to address Teo’s questions before the time for debate ran out. He promised to provide written responses to questions he did not manage to address during today’s debate.

Malaysiakini has also contacted Pharmaniaga for a response.

Pharmaniaga is the local licence holder for the Sinovac vaccine. It holds exclusive rights to import the finished vaccines from Sinovac in China, and also imports the bulk product for fill-and-finish at its facility in Puchong.

The company is controlled by the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) – a statutory body that manages pensions of some members of the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Ceiling price

Meanwhile, Teo also took issue with the government’s failure to impose a ceiling price for the vaccine’s sale in the private market, despite earlier commitments to do so.

Quoting from transcripts of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on Malaysia’s vaccine procurement, she said Pharmaniaga had proposed a ceiling price of RM130 per dose, which Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin told the PAC he felt was on the “high side”.

“Despite the announcement made by (Khairy) that a ceiling price for the Sinovac vaccine would be set, the government continues to allow Pharmaniaga to sell Sinovac vaccine at RM150 per dose until now,” she said.

As for the premium paid by the government for Pharmaniaga’s delay in delivering vaccines, Teo said the difference should have been borne by the company since it is its contractual obligation to deliver vaccines to the government. 

According to the PAC report, the government had procured some of its Sinovac vaccines doses at a premium of 16.78 to 18.12 percent, due to delays in vaccine deliveries between April and June.

Responding to the report, Pharmaniaga said it was the government that decided to import the more costly finished products to expedite Malaysia’s vaccine rollout.

It said its initial obligation was to deliver 12 million doses of fill-and-finish vaccines from its Puchong facility, whereas, in reality, the government had asked for Pharmaniaga to deliver both vaccines finished in China as well as those finished in Puchong.

“We wish to clarify that Pharmaniaga completed its 12 million doses contractual delivery schedule, four months ahead of time, and the Malaysian government paid a slightly higher price for additional orders of finished Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine from China to accelerate the completion of National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.

“With the increased cases of Covid-19 infections in May, supporting the government’s initiative in reaching herd immunity faster than planned was achievable as Pharmaniaga had access to the finished vaccines readily available from Sinovac in China.

“Again, the group wishes to reiterate that Pharmaniaga has been very consistent with its commitment to the government in meeting the delivery of Sinovac fill and finish vaccine by Pharmaniaga Life Sciences, and went beyond to support the Health Ministry, which in turn, (was) able to perform exceptionally well in managing the pandemic,” The Edge quoted the company as saying in a Dec 2 report. - Mkini