Is Sinovac's EV71 Vaccine on the Verge of CFDA Approval? $SVA

In late September, I met with Chinese biopharma Sinovac Biotech (ticker: SVA). At the time, management said it expected CFDA approval for its novel EV71 vaccine by early 2016. The same was said on its November earnings call. So did the stock rally this week in anticipation?

In an email earlier today, management said the following:

"Kunming's Ev71 is approved. And actually, Kunming made the filing earlier than us. They got it approved ahead of us is reasonable. Ours is still under approval process. But our expected timeline remains unchanged."

("Kunming" refers to Kunming Institute of Biological Product. Sinovac's latest 20-F calls Kunming one of "our major potential competitors".)

So there you have it.

SVA rallied this week thanks to Kunming receiving EV71 vaccine approval -- and SVA's continued belief that its EV71 vaccine will be approved shortly.

US institutional investors have been loading up in anticipation.

My full interview with management is HERE.

Disclosure: None