China’s Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group and Germany’s BioNTech on Wednesday began clinical trial of its novel coronavirus vaccine candidate. The first 72 of 144 participants in mainland China received a dose of BNT162b1, according to a statement from the companies. “We are proud to be among the first international biopharmaceutical companies to initiate a clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate in China as part of our effort to make our vaccine available globally, if approved,” said Ugur Sahin, chief executive officer and co-founder of BioNTech. The beginning of the clinical trial is an “important step” for the companies to secure authorisation to market the vaccine, he added. The trial will enrol 144 healthy individuals to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine and to confirm dose selection, the companies said. The subjects will be divided into two groups, one comprising of healthy adults aged 18 to 55, and the other, comprising those over 55 years old. Both groups will receive two injections of varying doses at 21 days apart. The participants will receive their shots in Taizhou, Jiangsu province. As of July 31, there are 26 candidate vaccines in clinical evaluation, and 139 candidate vaccines in preclinical evaluation, according to the World Health Organisation. With more than 18.5 million infected worldwide by the coronavirus and total deaths hitting over 700,000 on Wednesday, the race to find an effective and safe vaccine is critical for a return to normality. Besides being a public health emergency, the pandemic has also plunged the global economy into its worst slump since the Great Depression nearly a century ago. “Dosing the first Chinese subjects with BNT162b1 marks a milestone of the global co-development programme in China,” said AI-Min Hui, president of global research and development and chief medical officer of Fosun Pharma. “We are closely working with BioNTech and regulatory authorities to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BNT162b1 and other mRNA vaccine candidates, in order to synchronise the development process in China with other countries, and to bring the vaccine to public as soon as possible, if the vaccine succeeds.” Who is in the global competition to develop a coronavirus vaccine? Following on from the ongoing phase one and two studies in Germany and the United States, the Chinese study will initially evaluate nucleoside-modified messenger RNA (modRNA) candidate BNT162b1, one of two vaccine candidates based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology to have received the Food and Drug Administration’s “fast track” designation in the United States. RNA vaccines are faster and cheaper to produce than traditional vaccines, and an RNA-based vaccine is also safer for the patient as they are not produced using infectious elements, according to health care think tank PHG Foundation, which is part of the UK’s University of Cambridge. Fosun Pharma’s shares closed 5.1 per cent higher at HK$40.10 in Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. Nasdaq-listed BioNTech meanwhile fell 3 per cent to US$80.63 in early trading.