Thanks to the huge production capacity of units like CNBG, Sinopharm is able to produce 100 million vials of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines per year, it said.

Shi Lichen, founder of Beijing Dingchen Consultancy, said: "The company has demonstrated high-level R&D capabilities as well as a strong sense of corporate social responsibility. It is not a surprise that CNBG has made such achievements due to its strong competence in the vaccine sector, yet developing a new vaccine against the novel coronavirus requires not only strong technical capabilities but also huge amount of investment and is very risky financially."

Apart from vaccine research, Sinopharm also has a strong presence in the development of COVID-19 tests and treatments.

Shanghai Geneodx Biotech Co Ltd, an affiliate of CNBG, is one of the first three companies in China to succeed at developing test kits for the novel coronavirus.

CNBG is also the first in China to develop convalescent plasma treatment for patients suffering from COVID-19 using blood plasma taken from convalescents, which is recommended in official guidelines for treatment of the disease.

Sinopharm ranks 169th on the Fortune Global 500 last year, and fourth among pharmaceutical companies.