[ad_1]
Sinopharm has applied to China’s drug regulator for approval of the inactivated coronavirus vaccine.
Beijing, China:
Phase 3 trials of a Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine found it to be 79 percent effective, the Chinese pharmaceutical giant said Wednesday, less than rival hits developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, but a potential advance in the battle to stop the pandemic in Asia.
China has been racing against the West to develop its own Covid-19 vaccines, with five already in large-scale phase 3 clinical trials.
But Wednesday’s announcement was the first published data on the efficacy of a Chinese vaccine candidate.
“The protective effect of the vaccine (Sinopharm CNBG Beijing) against Covid-19 is 79.34 percent,” said the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, a subsidiary of Sinopharm.
Sinopharm has applied to China’s drug regulator for approval of the inactivated coronavirus vaccine, according to the statement, a type of inoculation that uses particles of the pathogen.
But China has struggled to win international trust for its vaccine candidates, hampered by a lack of transparency in test results.
It has also been slow to complete Phase 3 tests, which had to be conducted abroad due to China’s success in curbing the spread of Covid-19 within its own borders.
Chinese officials have repeatedly assured the public of the safety of the vaccines, claiming there have been no serious adverse reactions.
More than a million people have already been vaccinated with unapproved vaccines in China under its emergency use program, including front-line health workers, employees of state-owned companies, and workers planning to travel abroad.
The United Arab Emirates approved a Sinopharm vaccine earlier this month, becoming the first foreign country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine developed in China. He said the vaccine was 86 percent effective, based on interim results from a phase 3 trial.
Beijing has pledged to share the vaccine at a fair cost, a potential boost for poorer Asian countries that are otherwise dependent on the limited distribution offered by the COVAX scheme.
“China is firmly committed that once China’s new coronavirus vaccines are completed and put into use, they will serve as a global public product and be supplied to the world at a fair and reasonable price,” the spokesman said on Friday. from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian.
“We will also give priority to developing countries for vaccines. This will be done in a variety of ways, including through donations and aid.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
