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BEIJING, Oct. 16 – One of China’s leading coronavirus vaccine candidates was shown to be safe and elicits immune responses in a combined early and mid-stage human trial, the researchers said.
The potential vaccine, named BBIBP-CorV, is being developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
It has already been approved for an emergency vaccination program in China targeting essential workers and other limited groups of people facing high risk of infection.
However, it will only become clear whether the vaccine can protect people from the Covid-19 disease that has killed more than a million people worldwide when the final Phase III trials, which are ongoing outside of China.
BBIBP-CorV is one of at least 10 coronavirus vaccine projects globally that have entered Phase III trials, four of which are led by Chinese scientists, according to the World Health Organization.
It did not cause serious side effects, while common mild or moderate adverse reactions included fever and pain at the injection sites, according to an article published yesterday in the medical journal The Lancet.
The results come from a combined Phase I and Phase II trial involving more than 600 healthy adults conducted between April 29 and July 30.
Two injections of BBIBP-CorV in three different doses raised antibodies in all recipients in each group, including older participants, although the data does not prove the vaccine is effective, said researchers from CNBG’s subsidiary, Chinese Disease Control Authorities. and other research institutes on paper.
Antibody levels in recipients aged 60 and over were lower and took longer to increase significantly than those in younger participants, the results showed.
The study did not discuss whether the injection could elicit and sustain cell-based immune responses, another important weapon of the human immune system, which could be crucial if antibody-based immunity alone cannot prevent the virus.
In addition to BBIBP-CorV, CNBG, a unit of the state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), has another similar candidate developed by a different subsidiary that is also being tested abroad in Phase III trials and is being used in China’s emergency use program.
A CNBG executive said last month that the two candidates could get conditional approval for use by the general public this year.
The other CNBG candidate also induced antibodies without causing serious side effects in the early and mid-stage trials, a research article showed in August. – Reuters
