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Coronavirus: Is China Ready for the mRNA Vaccine Revolution?
When the search for a coronavirus vaccine began, China invested heavily in what it considered the safest bet: inactivated vaccines. State-owned Sinopharm and the private company Sinovac worked with government-affiliated laboratories to work around the clock to engineer inactivated viruses while construction began. in biosecure facilities to meet anticipated demand. But then came the results of the developers of an alternative technology called mRNA. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on big stories originating from China Stellar efficacy data from mRNA clinical trials Vaccine pioneers Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna sent shockwaves into the industry, prompting a re-evaluation of the approach. A senior Chinese health official has urged companies to look again at the new technology, while other domestic players are already turning to embrace what we say is a new era of vaccines. What are coronavirus mRNA vaccines and how do they work? In November, shortly after Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna announced an interim efficacy rate of more than 90 percent for their candidates, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention told The country’s vaccine executives said that mRNA technology could revolutionize the industry and that they should be prepared. Addressing the 4,000 people at the Annual China Biologics Conference in Zhuhai, southern China, George Gao Fu said it was highly likely that mRNA vaccines had the ultimate power to fight the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. . “The technology is fast, powerful, and induces longer-lasting immunity, from cellular to humoral immunity,” Gao said, referring to body-mediated immunity. “You are the heavy hitters in the industry. I hope tonight you think about whether your company should transition and start making arrangements to work on mRNA vaccines.” Until the United States approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine For emergency use last month, the injections were used in People were mostly a weakened version of the virus, causing the human body to produce antibodies to fight the disease itself. The most advanced vaccines revolved around the injection of part of the pathogen, such as a protein or sugar, to induce an immune response. mRNA vaccines take a completely different approach: they deliver instructions to cells to make useful proteins. These formulas are based on human cells that decode the material virus genetics and produce proteins to fight it. The material, synthetic mRNA, is enveloped in an oily bubble layer made of nanocouple lipid cells that are delivered to the human body. Once in the body, the material fuses with the cells and the cell’s molecules decode the genome sequence to build spike proteins, which train the human body to launch an immune response. Vaccine mRNA degrades in approximately 72 hours, so it will not combine with human DNA. We can’t rule out risks with Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, says a senior Chinese health official The idea of using mRNA has been around for decades, but little beyond early-stage human trials for the treatment of cancer or flu, Zika, and rabies vaccines Then Covid-19 happened and the developers sought to unlock the power of mRNA. Xiang Zuoyun, chief strategy officer at Chinese vaccine developer Walvax Biotechnology, said this was the beginning of something new. “[mRNA] it is an excellent technology for developing viral vaccines in the future and it is very likely that, in 20 to 30 years, all vaccines will use it. The trend is quite obvious, ”Xiang said. “I feel like we are witnessing the beginning of a new era of vaccines.” Xiang said that biological companies must acquire or develop technical capacity to take advantage of the business opportunities presented by mRNA technology. One of the great advantages of synthetic mRNA is that it is much easier and faster to produce in the laboratory than to inactivate or attenuate a virus. It took Moderna just two months to design an mRNA vaccine and launch trials after Chinese scientists published the coronavirus genome sequence. And, in theory, mRNA can be directed to make any protein, opening the door to making all kinds of vaccines for infectious diseases or even cancer. China has a handful of biotech startups specializing in mRNA vaccines and drugs, most of which were founded by scientists who gained their expertise abroad, one of the startups is Stemirna Therapeutics, which has received the green light for trials of the Covid-19 vaccine, and two other mRNA candidates jointly designed by Jiaotong and Fudan Universities in Shanghai are in preclinical studies. is working on its ARCoVax vaccine with the Academy of Military Sciences and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences. Its candidate entered a phase 1B clinical trial in October and last month began construction of a factory in Yuxi, Yunnan province. The goal is to be in production in eight months with an initial capacity of 120 million doses. Walvax has tried to shift more resources to mRNA vaccines by selling some stakes in a company in the process of registering its HPV vaccine, but this has been blocked by shareholders eager to reap the rewards of the previous investment. Other companies are also trying to move on. Last month, Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products bought 10 percent of Shenzhen Shenxin Biotechnology, one of the few Chinese startups developing mRNA vaccines for rare diseases, to boost its core competitiveness Zhang Linqi, professor of medicine at Tsinghua University in Beijing, he said was first brought to the fore when clinical trials showed it to be safe and effective. “It has the advantage of being safe, quick to respond, and accurate in pathogen selection,” Zhang said. “If there is a future disease X, the mRNA technology will have a great advantage in the front line to fight it. However, mRNA developers still need to find ways to increase production, reduce side effects and stabilize mRNA molecules, which can fall apart at room temperature and must be transported in very cold conditions, according to Zhang. Heavy hitters like Moderna and BioNTech have an advantage in this area. Moderna established an mRNA-based pipeline for various infectious diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and rare genetic diseases prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, it announced that the company would begin testing three candidates for seasonal flu vaccines and two candidates for HIV vaccines, and one for the Nipah virus vaccine. BioNTech also has a research line of approximately 21 anticancer drugs. Coronavirus: China starts construction of mRNA vaccine plant Peng Yucai, founder of Zhuhai Lifanda Biotechnology, a biotechnology company specializing in mRNA vaccines and drugs, said good data from large trials of mRNA vaccines in other countries would have a positive influence on drug regulators in China, increasing confidence in new technology and increasing the prospects for such vaccines to be approved in the future. But the industry needs government help to overcome a potential production bottleneck. “It is a flourishing industry, from supplying raw materials to supplying production equipment and this is the case not only in China but also around the world,” Peng said. “The production chain will improve if the government wants to develop the industry. It is achievable ”. More from South China Morning Post: * The success of China’s coronavirus shows that it has caught up with the West in some areas of innovation, says Nobel laureate Paul Romer * Coronavirus: Norway raises concern about Pfizer vaccine injections for the elderly as Australia searches information * Coronavirus: Experts say there is no reason to be alarmed by reports of older people dying after receiving the vaccine * Coronavirus deaths in the US exceed 400,000 when Donald Trump leaves office * Protein research Tip From Chinese Scientist Paves Way For Covid-19 Vaccine This Article Coronavirus: Is China Ready for mRNA? vaccine revolution? first appeared on the South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post, download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.
