Yin Weidong, Chairman and CEO of Sinovac Biotech Ltd

Some 20 years ago, Yin Weidong decided he had to do something about the problem of China having to rely on imported vaccines and his effort paid off.

In 1999, Yin invented the first inactivated (with organisms that are dead) hepatitis A (HA) vaccine in China, then continued his research in his company, Sinovac Biotech, now listed on the NASDAQ.

The company has become a Chinese pioneer in inactivated HA, inactivated SARS, pandemic influenza, and Influenza A H1N1 vaccines. In a race against time during the "swine flu" epidemic, Sinovac Biotech was able to prepare an Influenza A H1N1 vaccine and market it in just 87 days.