CanSino Biologics, a Chinese vaccine developer, announced that the COVID-19 vaccine it has been developing using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology has been given the thumbs up to start clinical trials by China’s medical products regulator, reports Reuters. Unlike other major countries, China is yet to approve any foreign-made mRNA vaccines such as that produced by US-German duo Pfizer and BioNTech SE.
With around 88% of its 1.4 billion population already vaccinated, China is trailing several domestically developed mRNA vaccine candidates, including one candidate that is being tested in a large, Phase 3 clinical trial. CanSinoBIO said in a press release that studies before clinical trials had showed the candidate can elicit high-level neutralizing antibodies against multiple variants, including Omicron.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited said on Sunday that its potential mRNA COVID vaccine SYS6006 was also cleared by China’s National Medical Products Administration to conduct clinical trials.