PHILO PHOTO: A woman holding a small bottle labeled “Vaccine COVID-19” and a medical syringe in this illustration April 10, 2020. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has approved human tests for a potential coronavirus vaccine that is cultured inside insect cells, local government in the southwestern city of Chengdu said on Saturday.
China is in a global race to develop cost-effective vaccines to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.
By using insect cells to grow proteins for the coronavirus vaccine – a first in China – production could be accelerated on a large scale, the Chengdu city government said in a message on social media WeChat.
The vaccine, developed by West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, has received approval from the National Medical Products Administration to conduct a clinical trial, the statement said.
In monkey tests, the vaccine was shown to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections with no obvious side effects, the report added.
Chinese scientists are already leading work on at least eight other potential coronavirus vaccines that have undergone various stages of clinical trials.
Foreign players, including German BioNTech (BNTX.O) and Inovio Pharma (INO.O) in the United States, have also partnered with local companies to test their experimental vaccines in China.
Report by Roxanne Liu and Yew Lun Tian; Edited by Mark Potter
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