BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s military has been given the green light to use a candidate COVID-19 vaccine developed by its research unit and CanSino Biologics <6185.HK> after clinical trials showed it to be safe and somewhat efficient, the company said Monday.
Ad5-nCoV is one of eight vaccine candidates developed by Chinese companies and researchers approved to go on to human trials for respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The shot also gained approval for human testing in Canada.
The Chinese Central Military Commission approved the use of the vaccine by the military on June 25 for a period of one year, CanSino said in a presentation. The candidate vaccine was jointly developed by CanSino and the Beijing Biotechnology Institute at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
“Ad5-nCoV is currently limited to military use only and its use cannot be expanded to a broader vaccination range without the approval of the Logistics Support Department,” CanSino said, referring to the department of the Central Military Commission where military use of the vaccine was approved.
Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials showed that the vaccine candidate has potential to prevent disease caused by the coronavirus, which has killed half a million people worldwide, but its commercial success cannot be guaranteed, the company said.
No vaccine has yet been approved for commercial use against the disease caused by the new coronavirus, but more than a dozen vaccines from more than 100 candidates are being tested in humans worldwide.
(Report by Roxanne Liu and Ryan Woo; Edition by Miyoung Kim and Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
