China’s Sinopharm begins late-stage trial of COVID-19 vaccine in UAE

DUBAI (Reuters) – Chinese state pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has begun phase III clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in Abu Dhabi with up to 15,000 volunteers, the government in the UAE capital said on Thursday.

The human trial is a partnership between Sinopharm’s China National Biotechnology Group (CNBG), the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company Group 42 (G42) and the Abu Dhabi Department of Health.

The study, which started on Wednesday, is the world’s first Phase III trial of an inactivated vaccine, said G42 Healthcare CEO Ashish Koshy. Inactivated vaccines are well known and have been used against diseases like the flu and measles.

The COVID-19 vaccine has not yet been approved for commercial use. According to a WHO summary of vaccine development status for COVID-19, there are 23 potential vaccines in human trials, three of them in large-scale late-phase, or phase III trials, to test efficacy.

The test will evaluate two vaccine strains and a placebo. Two doses three weeks apart will be administered and the volunteers will be followed for one year, said Nawal Alkaabi, head of the UAE’s Clinical Management Committee COVID-19.

Around 15,000 volunteers will be recruited over three to six months, initially in Abu Dhabi. They will be 18 to 60 years old with no serious underlying medical problems and no previous COVID-19 infection, Alkaabi said.

Sinopharm chose the United Arab Emirates because there are around 200 different nationalities residing there and is focused on medical research and fighting the pandemic, Koshy said.

The UAE says they have conducted more than 4 million tests for coronavirus infection in a population of about 9.6 million. It has registered almost 56,000 cases of infection and 335 deaths.

Sinopharm obtained approval for the trial in late June. The experimental vaccine passed Phases I and II of clinical trials with 100% of volunteers generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days, according to a statement from the Abu Dhabi government.

China has been looking abroad to test possible vaccines due to a lack of new patients at home. China Sinovac Biotech (SVA.O) is conducting phase III trials of a vaccine in Brazil.

Sinopharm and G42 would not have access to patient data in the trial to be conducted in Abu Dhabi state hospitals, G42 Healthcare research director Walid Zaher said, adding that the UAE intends to manufacture any resulting successful vaccine.

G42 is an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence firm that has partnered with Chinese genomics company BGI to build a COVID-19 testing laboratory in the emirate and with Israeli contractors to develop technologies to help combat the disease.

Koshy said the company was privately owned, but declined to say who.

Like other Gulf states, the UAE has developed close ties with China, seeking capital and technology to diversify its economy away from oil revenues.

However, a key US ally has warned the Gulf states to proceed with caution and consider their relationship with Washington.