[ad_1]
BEIJING: China has started work on a facility to manufacture its first COVID-19 candidate vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, despite the candidate still in early-stage clinical trials, reported media backed by the Been on Monday (December 21).
The mRNA technology contains instructions for human cells to produce proteins that mimic part of the coronavirus, and is used in vaccines from Moderna, as well as from Pfizer and BioNTech. Both vaccines have obtained efficacy data from large-scale, late-stage trials and emergency use approval in the United States.
The plant for China’s candidate mRNA, which is being jointly developed by the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS), Walvax Biotechnology and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, could be operational within eight months, China’s official News Service reported.
READ: China will begin to open the COVID-19 vaccination program to the general public
The facility will have an annual first-phase capacity of 120 million doses, according to the report.
The candidate, known as ARCoV or ARCoVax, entered a phase 1b clinical trial in October after a phase 1 trial that began in June, data on the website of the China Clinical Trials Registry shows.
READ: China welcomes WHO-led trip to investigate COVID-19, says WHO official
READ: ‘We are not afraid’: Wuhan residents say they hope WHO team will find origins of COVID-19
At least five Chinese candidates have already entered phase 3 clinical trials, three of which have been administered to people at high risk of infection through China’s emergency vaccination program.
Those three are inactivated vaccines, which used inactivated or killed versions of the virus that cannot replicate in human cells to trigger immune responses.
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
