BEIJING, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) (“Sinovac ” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced it has been forced to temporarily suspend its flu vaccine production and destroy the flu vaccines it is currently producing. The Company expects this will result in its inability to supply flu vaccines for the 2018 to 2019 flu season. These decisions have been made necessary by the actions taken by Aihua Pan, the Chairman of the Board of the Company’s controlled Chinese subsidiary, Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Sinovac Beijing”), who was appointed Chairman by Sinobioway Biomedicine Co., Ltd. (“Sinobioway”), the minority shareholder of Sinovac Beijing.
As previously announced, on April 17, 2018, Mr. Pan and dozens of unnamed individuals forcibly entered Sinovac Beijing’s corporate offices in Shangdi site and limited the physical movement of the employees in Sinovac Beijing’s general manager’s office and finance department. This was in an attempt to take control of Sinovac Beijing’s official seal, legal documents, accounting seal, financial documents and financial information systems. In attempting to forcibly take control of the Company’s corporate offices, these individuals cut power to the facility in Shangdi site, thereby disrupting Sinovac Beijing’s hepatitis A and seasonal flu vaccine production, seriously impacting Sinovac Beijing’s production and manufacturing processes and very possibly damaging product quality.
Sinovac Beijing initiated its emergency response protocol and resumed production and quality management activities step-by-step. Once flu vaccine production was resumed, the quality assurance department performed several assessments of the production environment and vaccine safety. Unfortunately, it was determined that the quality and safety risks associated with salvaging these vaccines were not able to be completely eliminated. The Company is assessing the risk associated with other vaccine production at Shangdi site in parallel.
About Sinovac Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical Company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. Healive, the hepatitis A vaccine manufactured by the Company has passed the assessment under WHO Prequalification procedures in 2017. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America.
Safe Harbor Statement This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements.
Contacts:
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 Email: ir@sinovac.com
System helps laboratories deliver fast, accurate results through near native-state cellular characterization, precise flagging and a 93% first-pass throughput [1]
BREA, California, May 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Beckman Coulter announced today the release of the DxH 900 hematology analyzer, giving mid- to high-volume clinical laboratories the ability to perform complete blood count and white blood cell differential tests with minimal repeats. The DxH 900 is now available for sale in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The DxH 900 analyzer offers advanced technologies to support patient care, by delivering the right results the first time. Foundational to the system are its core technologies, including the enhanced Coulter Principle, VCS 360 and DataFusion. These features offer high-resolution analysis of cells in their near-native states, providing a precise cellular assessment for excellent red blood cell, platelet and white blood cell test results on the first pass.
“The DxH 900 hematology analyzer is an example of our commitment to the voice of the customer. We had over 100 of our customers view prototypes, and we enhanced our designs based on their input. Truly, the DxH 900 was designed by customers for customers,” said Peter Soltani, Ph.D., senior vice president and general manager of the hematology business at Beckman Coulter. “The suite of technologies is intended to help laboratories deliver quality results for fast, accurate clinical decision-making. At the same time, the system includes automated solutions that streamline the number of procedural steps needed to produce those results, offering predictable performance and greater laboratory efficiency.”
The DxH 900 analyzer demonstrates industry-leading 93% first-pass throughput,1 providing accurate flagging and reducing the number of slide reviews. This helps to generate reportable results as quickly as possible, reducing the time, supplies and costs that may be required for systems with higher repeat rates. Adding to this is the analyzer’s lean reagent portfolio, which includes four reagents compared to 11 reagents required by other analyzers.2 Further, the DxH 900 features one of the smallest footprints in its class, making it highly efficient in utilization of laboratory space.
Many of the parameters available with the DxH 900 analyzer are designed to directly impact patient care by addressing critical conditions, such as thrombocytopenia, anemia and leukopenia. Sepsis, is another often-deadly condition that affects millions of people worldwide each year. A recognized global healthcare concern, sepsis puts patients in grave danger and places a significant burden on the healthcare system as a whole. Beckman Coulter is evaluating a hematology sepsis* parameter that is part of a routinely ordered test in the emergency department, where earlier recognition and treatment of sepsis can begin. This test can be performed on the DxH 900 analyzer.
The DxH 900 hematology analyzer complements the recently announced DxH 520* system, and further expands Beckman Coulter’s hematology portfolio. These solutions provide a high level of continuity of care for clinical laboratories, regardless of whether they are small- or high-volume facilities.
About Beckman Coulter Beckman Coulter Diagnostics helps healthcare and laboratory professionals provide better patient care by delivering the accurate diagnostic information they need, when they need it. For over 80 years, Beckman Coulter has been the partner of choice for healthcare organizations. Our scalable instruments, comprehensive diagnostic tests and business management services are trusted by hospitals, laboratories and other critical care settings around the world. We share in our customers’ mission toward continuous improvement and quality patient care because we believe when efficiency and clinical outcomes are improved, patients benefit and we can move healthcare forward for every person.
DxH series side-by-side results documentation.
Automated hematology analyzer manufacturers’ Instructions for Use (IFUs).
Disclaimer:The Early Sepsis Indicator is not available in all countries.
*CE Marked and is pending 510(k) clearance by the U.S. FDA. Not yet available for in vitro diagnostic use in the U.S.
BEIJING, April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) (“Sinovac” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced it has been forced to destroy the bacterial seeds intended for use in the production of its 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine, or PPV, and to suspend all preparations for and ultimately postpone the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) inspection of the manufacturing site necessary for 23-valent PPV production approval. These decisions have been made necessary by the actions taken by Aihua Pan, the Chairman of the Board of the Company’s controlled Chinese subsidiary, Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Sinovac Beijing”), who was appointed by Sinobioway Biomedicine Co., Ltd. (“Sinobioway”), the minority shareholder of Sinovac Beijing.
As previously announced, on April 17, 2018, Mr. Pan and dozens of unnamed individuals forcibly entered Sinovac Beijing’s corporate offices and limited the physical movement of the employees in Sinovac Beijing’s general manager’s office and finance department. This was in an attempt to take control of Sinovac Beijing’s official seal, legal documents, accounting seal, financial documents and financial information systems. One of the Company’s buildings has been occupied by these individuals since this date, and Sinovac Beijing employees are still not permitted to enter.
Portions of the 23-valent PPV manufacturing facility, as well as one of the refrigerators where the bacterial seeds are stored, is located in the occupied building. In accordance with the Company’s internal quality management regulations, employees are required to inspect and record the temperature of the refrigerator twice daily. With Sinovac Beijing employees unable to enter the facilities and perform these quality checks, the Company has no assurances as to the quality of bacterial seeds and other key materials stored in this building for use in the production of the 23-valent PPV. As a result, Sinovac Beijing has been left with no choice but to plan to destroy the bacterial seeds and suspend preparations for the CFDA site inspection required for production approval. The Company expects this will delay the commercialization of its 23-valent PPV.
Sinovac Beijing’s 23-valent PPV is designed to prevent streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) infections in people over two years old. The vaccine development was initiated in 2008 and was approved for human clinical trial in 2014. The clinical studies were completed in 2017 and the production license application was submitted to the CFDA in June 2017.
About Sinovac
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical Company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. Healive, the hepatitis A vaccine manufactured by the Company has passed the assessment under WHO Prequalification procedures in 2017. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements.
Contacts:
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 ir@sinovac.com
BEIJING, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited (“Concord Medical” or the “Company”) (NYSE: CCM), a leading specialty hospital management solutions provider and operator of a network of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers in China, today announced that it filed its Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. An electronic copy of the annual report on Form 20-F can be accessed on Concord Medical’s investor relations website at http://ir.ccm.cn and on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Shareholders may receive a hard copy of Concord Medical’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 free of charge upon request. Requests should be submitted to http://ir.ccm.cn.
About Concord Medical
Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited is a leading specialty hospital management solutions provider and operator of a network of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers in China. As of December 31, 2017, the Company operated a network of 44 centers with 30 hospital partners that spanned 29 cities and 18 provinces and administrative regions in China. Under long-term arrangements with top-tier hospitals in China, the Company provides radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging equipment and manages the daily operations of these centers, which are located on the premises of its hospital partners. The Company also provides ongoing training to doctors and other medical professionals in its network of centers to ensure a high level of clinical care for patients. For more information, please see http://ir.ccm.cn.
For more information, please contact:
Concord Medical Services Ms. Carol TIAN (Chinese and English) +86 10 5903 6688 (ext. 608) yuan.tian@ccm.cn
-Efficiency improvement and pipeline progress remain top priorities
YONGIN, South Korea, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — GC Pharma (formerly known as Green Cross Corporation) (KRX: 006280), a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, today announced unaudited results for the three months ended March 31, 2018.
Key Figures
Q1 2018(1)
Growth(1)
Total revenues
KRW 294.1 billion
+6.8%
Operating income
KRW 14.5 billion
+5.7%
K-IFRS net income
KRW 18.6 billion
+167.7%
(1) Results and percentages compare to equivalent 2017 period.
Financial Highlights
Delivered total revenues growth of 6.8% to KRW 294.1 billion (Q1 2017: KRW 275.4 billion), driven mainly by strong performance across all businesses.
Operating income increased 5.7% to KRW 14.5 billion (Q1 2017: KRW 13.7 billion), primarily due to 0.9% lower cost of sales ratio and only 0.8% higher SG&A expense rate compare to equivalent 2017 period.
EC Huh, Ph.D., GC Pharma President commented:
“We delivered fairly strong top-line growth in the first quarter. I am pleased to see that our sales growth came from across our broad portfolio. Our priorities for the rest of 2018 remain unchanged: generating operational efficiencies and advancing our pipeline of protein therapies.”
About GC Pharma
GC Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company that delivers life-saving and life-sustaining protein therapeutics and vaccines. Headquartered in South Korea, GC Pharma is the largest plasma protein product manufacturer in Asia and has been dedicated to quality healthcare solutions more than half a century. Green Cross Corporation updated its corporate brand as GC Pharma in early 2018. Green Cross Corporation remains the company’s registered, legal name.
This release includes forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of GC Pharma’s management. Such statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
A wellness mobile application that rewards you for staying active and healthy
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sun Life Malaysia recently announced its collaborative partnership with BookDoc to create a more health-conscious society through its wellness reward mobile application — SunActiv.
Mr Raymond Lew, CEO & President / Country Head of Sun Life Malaysia (right) working hand-in-hand with Dato’ Chevy Beh, Founder of BookDoc, to help Malaysians #LiveHealthierLives with SunActiv.
SunActiv is a program developed by BookDoc that offers great rewards for active users where all they need to do is to just walk and stay active. Introduced under its Live Healthier Lives strategy, Sun Life Malaysia aims to empower its Clients to embrace an active and healthy lifestyle for a brighter life.
To officially signify the collaboration, a symbolic event was held on 21 April 2018 during Sun Life Malaysia’s Brighter Lives Roadshow at The Curve Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Present at the event were Raymond Lew, CEO & President / Country Head of Sun Life Malaysia, Dato’ Chevy Beh, Founder of BookDoc, and over 50 management members and representatives of both organisations.
Raymond Lew said, “Sun Life Malaysia is very pleased to partner with BookDoc to enhance our Client value proposition through SunActiv. We are a caring and responsible insurer that not only takes care of our Clients protection and financial needs, but also their health and wellbeing. Designed for simplicity and ease of use, SunActiv will encourage our Clients to stay active and live healthy because every step they take will count towards redeeming great lifestyle rewards.”
“Besides Clients, we have also made SunActiv available to our employees. We hope it will help both our Clients and employees improve their overall quality of life and prevent diseases like diabetes because according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, almost one in five Malaysian adults has diabetes, and one of the contributing factors is the sedentary lifestyle,” he added.
Dato’ Chevy said, “BookDoc is pleased to partner with Sun Life Malaysia to help gamify people’s behavior to take of their health. A lot of people understand that prevention is better than cure but people unfortunately do not take a proactive actions to live a healthy life until something happens to their love ones or themselves only they start changing which sometimes is too late. We hope will this partnership with Sun Life Malaysia we can help drive positive changes in people’s life.”
During the event, Sun Life Malaysia also introduced its Live Healthier Lives Ambassador, Abdul Rahman Lee, who is the Malaysia’s SEA Games 2017 Discus Bronze Medallist.
“We chose Abdul Rahman Lee to be our health ambassador because being a sportsman, he lives an active and healthy lifestyle and he is in the position to inspire others to do the same. Our aim is to provide avenues for our Clients especially and Malaysians in general to proactively take ownership of their health,” said Raymond.
Features and benefits of SunActiv:
Search & Book — Find and book healthcare professionals.
Activ — Track every step one took and the average monthly steps will determine the Reward level (Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum) to access lifestyle deals from over 50 rewards partners.
Health Info — Stay connected with the latest news on medical and technology locally and globally.
Marketplace — Get the best value from a one-stop shop for health, wellness and fitness offerings.
SunActiv is currently available for download on Google Play Store and Apple App Store by invitation only.
About Sun Life Malaysia
Sun Life Malaysia (Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad and Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad) is a joint venture by Sun Life Financial Inc. and Avicennia Capital Sdn. Bhd., a fully owned Khazanah Nasional Berhad investment holding company, specialising in Insurance and Takaful.
Sun Life Malaysia offers a comprehensive range of life insurance and Takaful products and services to Malaysians across the country and is focused on helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Sun Life Malaysia distributes its products through a range of distribution channels including bancassurance, direct marketing, telemarketing, agency, telcoassurance and government and corporate business.
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organisation providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of 31 December 2017, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management (AUM) of CAD$975 billion.
BookDoc, with presence in 5 Countries and 20 cities (Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia), is an online platform that operates across the healthcare continuum connecting patients to healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, while incentivising all to stay active.
BookDoc has established an integrated online ecosystem for local and overseas health travellers. The ecosystem allows users to search and book healthcare professionals anytime and anywhere, and integrates seamlessly with navigation (Google Map, Waze), transport (Grab, Uber, AirAsia), accommodation (Agoda and Airbnb) and recommended restaurants & attractions (TripAdvisor) for a hassle-free and enjoyable experience to healthcare appointments. In addition, through BookDoc Activ, it rewards users for maintaining high level of activity by partnering major retailers and service providers that offer users discounts for achieving reward tiers based on activity level. Among the reward partners are Zalora, Fave (Groupon), Guardian, Secret Recipe, Oldtown White Coffee, Coffee Bean and many more.
The company is backed by a diverse group of investors from entrepreneurs to seasoned healthcare and insurance professionals, banker, regulators as well as ICT professionals. It has made records in achieving the highest pre-seed and seed valuation in Asia Technology Start-up history. It is available online at www.bookdoc.com, App Store and Google Play Store.
BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (“Sinovac” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: SVA), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that on April 26, 2018, it entered into Amendment No. 2 to the Amalgamation Agreement (the “Amendment”) to further amend the Amalgamation Agreement, dated as of June 26, 2017 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Amalgamation Agreement, dated as of March 26, 2018, the “Amalgamation Agreement”), among the Company, Sinovac (Cayman) Limited (“Parent”) and Sinovac Amalgamation Sub Limited (“Amalgamation Sub”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent.
Under the terms of the Amalgamation Agreement, the Amalgamation Agreement may be terminated by the Company or Parent if the amalgamation of Amalgamation Sub with and into the Company (the “Amalgamation”) has not occurred on or before April 26, 2018 (the “Termination Date”). The Amendment extends the Termination Date to May 26, 2018.
About Sinovac
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.sinovac.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties as to how the Company’s shareholders will vote at the meeting of shareholders, the possibility that competing offers will be made, the possibility that various closing conditions to the Amalgamation may not be satisfied or waived and other risks and uncertainties discussed in Sinovac’s filings with the SEC, as well as the Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement (and amendments thereto) and the proxy statement to be filed by the Company in connection with the proposed Amalgamation. Sinovac does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
Contacts
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 ir@sinovac.com
HONG KONG, April 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On April 27, 2018, LKK Health Products Group (LKKHPG or the Group) was awarded as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2018 (Hong Kong Edition) by HR Asia Magazine, one of the most authoritative publications for senior HR professionals in Asia. It has won this honor for three consecutive years since 2016.
LKK Health Products Group Named One of the Best Employers to Work for in Asia for Three Consecutive Years
Best Companies to Work for in Asia™ is one of the most authoritative business management awards in Asia. LKKHPG was one of the 33 winners this year out of 168 nominees from a dozen industries across Hong Kong. Other awardees include Swarovski, A.S. Watson Group, Hang Lung Properties, Pfizer, and KPMG.
“While the program is Asia-centric, the survey’s parameters are benchmarked against the best in the world,” said Mr. William Ng, group publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Media International, the publisher of HR Asia.
The Awards was judged by an independent panel of industry experts, academics, journalists and government representatives based on the HR Asia Employee Input Survey™ (EIS) Report and the HR Asia Workplace and Employee Engagement Survey™ (WEES). The judges examined companies’ HR practices, employee engagement, job satisfaction and workplace environment. The evaluation report shows that LKKHPG acquired high scores in all dimensions.
The Group said: “We are very grateful for winning this award. It is good recognition of our efforts and commitment to providing employees with excellent working conditions and development opportunities. ‘Si Li Ji Ren’ is LKKHPG’s core values, meaning we should consider collective benefits before acting. Therefore, we always value our staff as one of the most important assets. We are glad to have a group of great employees, and we will continue to fulfill our responsibilities and help them develop along with the company.”
LKKHPG’s care for and devotion to employees continue to earn widespread social recognition. In 2018, it washonored as a Caring Company again by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, and named a Happy Company again by the Promoting Happiness Index Foundation and Hong Kong Productivity Council.
LKK Health Products Group, a Hong Kong-based corporation, was established by the Lee Kum Kee Family in 1992. The Group operates diversified businesses in Chinese herbal health products, Chinese herbs plantation and trading, property investment, and venture capital for startups. The group employs approximately 5,000 people.
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BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) (“Sinovac” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that it will delay the filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the year 2017 (the “2017 Annual Report”). The delay is the result of actions taken by Aihua Pan, the Chairman of the Board of the Company’s 73.09% controlled China subsidiary, Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Sinovac Beijing”). Mr. Pan was appointed Chairman of the Board by Sinobioway Biomedicine Co., Ltd. (“Sinobioway”), the minority shareholder of Sinovac Beijing.
As previously announced, on April 17, 2018, Aihua Pan and dozens of unnamed individuals forcibly entered Sinovac Beijing’s corporate offices and limited the physical movement of the employees in Sinovac Beijing’s general manager’s office and finance department. This was in an attempt to take control of Sinovac Beijing’s official seal, legal documents, accounting seal, financial documents and financial information systems. One of our buildings where the finance department is located is occupied and employees of Sinovac Beijing are not permitted to enter.
The occupation of the finance department of Sinovac Beijing has caused disruption to the Company’s 2017 annual audit, which will delay the filing of the Company’s 2017 Annual Report. The Company will file the Notification of Late Filing on Form 12b-25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide the formal notification of the delay. The Company is working diligently with its auditor to file the 2017 Annual Report as soon as practicable.
About Sinovac
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical Company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. Healive, the hepatitis A vaccine manufactured by the Company has passed the assessment under WHO Prequalification procedures in 2017. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.sinovac.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements.
Contacts:
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 ir@sinovac.com
BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On the morning of April 21, the 2018 Vascular Innovation Symposium was held in Beijing. The symposium focused onconceptualand technological innovation, presented the innovative applications of next-generation information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence in the medical field, and discussed the application of big data and artificial intelligence onvascular surgery.
Xie Shaofeng, General Director of the Department of Information and Software Services of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China; Prof. Yu Qilin, Department of Surgical Medicine, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital; Prof. Wang Shenming, Chief Expert of the Department of Vascular Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University; Jiang Feng, Executive Vice President of the China Association for the Medical Device Industry; Wang Faqiang, President of Chinese Research Hospital Association; Shi Xinli, Head of Center for Medical Device Evaluation; Prof. Chen Zhong, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital; Prof. Liu Changwei, Department of Vascular Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Prof. Guo Wei, Department of Vascular Surgery, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital; Prof. Liao Hongen, Deputy Dean of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Tsinghua University; Wu Wenxin, General Manager of the Intel Healthcare Industry Solution Group; Chai Xiangfei, CEO of Huiyihuiying; and Guona, COO of Huiyihuiying were among those that attended the symposium.
At the symposium, Huiyihuiying and the Department of Vascular Surgery of the PLA General Hospital (the 301 Hospital) jointly announced the AORTIST 2.0 artificial intelligence research cloud platform. According to Guo Wei, director of the Department of Vascular Surgery at 301 Hospital, it is the first time that an artificial intelligence automatic segmentation method for type B aortic dissection has been developed anywhere in the world.
Big Data and AI could let China pull ahead
Xie Shaofeng, Director General of the Department of Information and Software Servicesof the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC, addressedthe meeting, saying: “To promote a smart future for the industry,medicine and health care need to be people-centric; positioning people’s yearning for a better life as the target while strengthening data, opening up data security and reinforcing cooperation between other aspects.
“The first step is to promoteopenness and the sharing of medical health data for comprehensive utilization. In response to the development trendspresent in new technologies and new formats, we will build a unified, comprehensive and interconnected medical and health platform to achieve data and resource co-construction and sharing, eliminatingdata barriersand facilitatingdata–sharing channels between industries.
“The second is cooperation between health information technology companies and medical departments, strengthening the coordination ability between supply side and demand side, to promote big data and AI technology and make them demand–oriented, going deep into the application of medical technologyand promoting the transformation of technological achievements and industrial upgrade.
“The third is to effectively ensure the safety of medical and health data, strengthen the management of identitiesin medical and health data, and construct a safety system,ensuring the safety of medical and health data through standard implementation of safety precautions.
The deep integration of big data and artificial intelligence with the health care field will optimize resource allocation, integrate social forces, and maximize medical and health benefits. It has great significance for propelling technological advancement, and building abetter society for the welfare of the people.
Prof. Liao Hongen, Deputy Dean of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Tsinghua University, said that “Withartificial intelligence becoming part of the national strategy, algorithms, computing power, and big data have developed rapidly. In recent years, artificial intelligence has made breakthroughs in disease monitoring, disease early warning, medication monitoring, personalized diagnosis, precise treatment, smart pension and so on. Especially in the field of microinvasive treatment, artificial intelligence has given medical research and clinicsa powerful new tool.”When he shared on the topic of ‘Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging and Microinvasive Diagnosis and Treatment’, Prof. Liao stated that he thinks that with regard to AI, people should pay more attention to the efficiency of machines and the improvement of people’s effectiveness and cognition. That is not to say that people should letAI completely replacedoctors,but that the best model is a complementary one. These kind of diagnoses require a high degree of long-term coordination and cooperation between evensome fields merely related to medicine in order to ultimatelyachieve the goal of accurate personalized medicine.
As a leading medical imaging and artificial intelligence company, Huiyihuiying provides a complete set of medical image data analysis and mining toolsand a medical imaging intelligent auxiliary diagnosis service. It has already been put into use in more than 700 hospitals and its intelligent auxiliary diagnosis system based on deep learning has already been applied inhundreds of hospitals.
The big data intelligent analysis cloud platform based on radiomics, machine learning, big data and other technologies has already been settled in more than 300 hospitals.
In the 2018 Vascular Innovation Symposium, Huiyihuiying and the Department of Vascular Surgery of the PLA General Hospital (the 301 Hospital) announced an artificial intelligence research cloud platform named AORTIST 2.0.
The full name of the AORTIST is “Artificial intelligence Online Research platform Targeting Individualized aortic Stent-grafting Therapy.” According to reports, after a year of cooperation, the two parties have made breakthrough progress in precision measurement, prognosis prediction and follow-up management on surgery oftype B aortic dissections, and Guo Wei, director of vascular surgery at 301 Hospital, claimed this is the first time in the world that an artificial intelligence automatic segmentation method for type B aortic dissection has been developed. For Huiyihuiying, this is also a breakthrough, because its AI application for the first time ‘came out’ from the imaging department and began seeing application in clinical departments, also participating inclinical treatment decision-making after making breakthroughsin the diagnosis process, from efficiency improvementtoprecise treatment.
AORTIST2.0 gives intelligence to the diagnosis and treatment of aortic disease
Aortic dissection is the most dangerous and complex of the aortic diseases. With the evolution of medical equipment and surgical instruments, human beings have been able to treat aortic diseases with endovascular repair, achieving a major shift from massively traumatic aortic surgeryto microinvasive methods. The main problem of the microinvasive treatment of aortic diseases has also begun to change from how to complete the surgery more safely to how to treat the disease more effectively. Questions such as ‘how to accurately measure aortic anatomic parameters to reduce the incidence of surgical complications‘ and‘how to achieve prognosis of patients with aortic disease to develop a personalized treatment plan and follow-up plan‘ have become larger concerns forvascular surgeons.
According to the data, the aorta is the main blood vessel of the body. If there is tearing of the intimal layer that cannot be treated promptly, then when it ruptures, it has a very high fatality rate. The dissection is located only in the area below the distal opening of the left subclavian artery, and the B-type aorta is not involved in the proximal aortic artery. B-type aortic dissection is a very rare but serious disease, where 65% to 70% die of cardiac tamponade, arrhythmia and so on, so it’s absolutely necessary to get early diagnosis and treatment.
According to Chai Xiangfei, Founder and CEO of Huiyihuiying,after the 301 Hospital and Huiyingying jointly designed the project, the hospital provided image data and patient clinical data, while Huiyihuiying provided the artificial intelligence algorithm, radiology algorithm, and follow-up engineered algorithm.Once the platform was fully trained and fleshed out, a limited verification was performedto debugfor accuracy, before expanding the application to its full scope.
AORTIST resolves the three core issues of accurate measurement, prognostic prediction, and remote follow-up in previous B-type aortic dissection surgery. Taking precision measurement as an example, B-type aortic dissection surgery requires accurate measurements of the diameter of the proximal & distal landing zone, the location of the breach, and some important distance information. Manual measurement based on the CTA axial position is prone to errors, especially when it comes to the measurementof the diameter of the aortic arch, and it is also difficult to obtain information such as length and distance using the manual measurement method. In this case, vascular surgeons usually need to rely on trained professionals to use commercial software to obtain accurate anatomical parameters, but the accuracy and timeliness of information acquisition cannot be guaranteed.
The AORTIST Cloud Platform achieves breakthroughs in the three-dimensional reconstruction of patients’ aorta, segmentation, centerline extraction, breach analysis, and accurate measurement of diameter and length. According to reports, using the AORTIST cloud platform, the intersection-over-union ratio of arterial diameter measurement reached 98%, the arterial diameter error margin was reduced to within 1.5mm, and the accuracy was improved by more than 50% compared with the manual measurement method. The accurate measurement of the diameter, length, and distance between branching arteries of the patient’s landing zone could be completed within 10 minutes, greatly improving efficiency and accuracy, which is extremely helpful for doctors to develop personalized surgeries.
Prof. Guo Wei, Director of Department of Vascular Surgery at the 301 Hospital, said that “Radiomics is closely linked with big data and artificial intelligence.” Director Guo believes that the true strength of big data is not simply a large amount of data, butis actually big data paired with cloud-based data. The most important part of medical data is imaging data. Imaging data is often a manifestation of the objective response of the disease. It is more truthful than a patient’s statement and is more accurate than the medical record. Aortic disease is very suitable for big data, artificial intelligence and radiomics. There are many companies that make images today, but companies that extend it into automated segments are still uncommon. The most important part of a convolutional neural–based network is automatic measurement. AORTIST 2.0 can assist in accurate measurement. Formerly mostpatients were manually measured before surgery. The difficulty was to find the plane which is perpendicular to the axis of the aorta, and then select the correct bracket. In addition, AORTIST 2.0 also provides a pre-plan recommendation, which is based on the analysis results of large amounts of data and will improve long-term outcomes.
Report from Japanese market in AI and radiomics
The best proof of the work related to the development of Radiomics and AI platforms has been confirmed during the 77th Annual Meeting of the Japan Radiological Society. During that meeting professor Shuji Yamamoto emphasized the peculiarity of Chinese development of Artificial Intelligence and the currentglobal status quo in the Radiology field. Professor Shuji Yamamoto graduated from School of Medicine in Medical Physics from Osaka University, he is Project Associate Professor in Tokyo Institute of Technology (ACLS) and visiting researcher in the National Cancer Center in Japan, working onresearch into Cancer prevention and screening,as well as a member of the International Cancer Imaging Society (United Kingdom).
Japanese radiologists have been very interested in opportunities presented by the implementation of Radiomics in routine work and calculation of prediction and forecasting of Cancer. Even though the coverage of PACS systems in Japan exceeds 95%, the level of AI integration is still lacking – though there is great demand. This could be a great opportunity to develop the quality of patients’ data for companies like HY. So the market response for HY AI products was outstanding and the Japanese market,which boasts the highest adoption rates of MRI and CT scanners in the world, is regarded as the most interestingpotential market for all companies working in Medical Imaging AI field.
The future ofAI and radiomics in vascular surgery
Looking back over the history of the development of artificial intelligence, the earliest artificial intelligence was based on expert systems, and had turned into a statistical model by the end of the 1990s. AI gradually came into the limelight starting from 2012, when data-driven artificial intelligence emerged. In 2016, because of the spotlight shined on AlphaGo, artificial intelligence technology began appearing in a wide variety of fields and industries. Therefore, this came to be known as the “First year of AI”
Chai Xiangfei believes that images and pathology are the most mature technologies and the most widely used ones in the application of AI technology in medical field. In addition to intelligent analysis, AI medical imaging can provide new strategies for diagnosis and treatment. It can also realize intelligent segmentation of medical images to achieve 3D modeling and multimodal image registration. Providing doctors with multidimensional information andradiation-free image tracking techniqueshelps to reduce the intraoperative radiation damage for doctors.
Although medical images have achieved breakthroughs when it comes to type B aorta, there are still many challenges left to be solved. Chai Xiangfei said “The numbers of incidences of aortic disease in the country is probably 100,000. When we subdivide A and B aortic aneurysms, there are only thousands of cases for each disease, so we can not obtain data from millions of cases as we may wish. Usually, we can only perform calculations in hundreds or thousands of data sets. Handling artificial intelligence calculations in this process for such a small amount of data is the areawhereAI-enhanced medical imaging most urgentlyneeds improvement.”
From the view of the medical industry, the specificity of this industry determines that many new technologies and new things cannot be “tried and tested” because it there are human lives on the line. At the same time, especially in the subdivision of medical imaging, entrepreneurs with cross-disciplinary abilities will have greater competitiveness. Entrepreneurs not only need medical clinical knowledge, but also computer knowledge and data processing knowledge, as well as needing to understand the market, sales, and methods of management.
As Chai Xiangfei pointed out at the end of the symposium, there is a real lack of such crossover talents in the medical imaging industry, which is one of the factors that restricts itsdevelopment. Chaiadded “No matter how products or research might develop, or how commercialized the industry might become, in fact, it is very important to conduct multi-party collaboration, especially in the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents. During the process, no matter whether business, technology, or medical knowledge, they are all indispensable parts”.
