A secret coup and a ‘poison pill’ have frozen shares of a biotech in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine

Moderna’s work on a vaccine for coronavirus has made its founders into paper billionaires. Gilead Sciences has added $10 billion to its market value since the start of 2020. And a rising tide of Covid-19 speculation has sent one major biotech index to its all-time high.

But Sinovac, a Beijing-headquartered company with a coronavirus vaccine already in human trials, has been entirely left out. Thanks to a yearslong battle for corporate control — involving a secret coup, a poison pill, and an office raid — trading of Sinovac’s shares has been halted since early 2019, making for Nasdaq’s longest ongoing suspension.

That means Sinovac’s shareholders saw no benefit from the company’s entry into the coronavirus vaccine race, or from last month’s news that its vaccine protected monkeys from infection. The stock is locked in place at $6.47 a share, and no one knows when — or if — it will trade again.

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