Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm has hailed the success of trials of its COVID-19 inactivated vaccine, pointing to the production of high-concentrations of antibodies in all test subjects.
Sinopharm announced on 16 June that stage 1 and stage 2 clinical trials of the world’s first COVID-19 inactivated vaccine developed by its Wuhan Institute of Biological Products (武汉生物制品研究所) had proven the product’s safety, with no severe adverse reactions.
According to Sinopharm all 1,120 vaccine recipients aged from 18 to 59 had produced high concentrations of antibodies irrespective of initial dosage.
Sinopharm said that on 12 April the vaccine became the world’s first COVID-19 inactivated vaccine to obtain approval for clinical testing, with stage 1 and stage II tests held concurrently in the Hubei province capital of Wuhan and Wuzhi county in Henan province.
On 29 May Sinopharm subsidiary China Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (中国生物技术股份有限公司) announced that Sinopharm chair Liu Jingzhen (刘敬桢) was one of 180 early volunteers who have received doses of a Novel Coronavirus inactivated vaccine.
According to Sinopharm the next step will be to undertake overseas cooperation for stage 3 clinical trials of the vaccine, with several companies and research institutions already expressing interest.
Sinopharm’s Beijing Biological Preparations Institute has already completed construction of a vaccine production plant in Beijing, which will satisfy biosafety level (BSL) 3 requirements and have an annual capacity of 100 – 120 million doses.
Its Wuhan Institute of Biological Products has also commenced work on a vaccine production facility which is scheduled for completion prior to the end of June, and will bring annual production to at least 200 million doses.
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