Coronavirus: China’s race to find a vaccine gathers pace after pause in Brazil trial

Name: Brazilian state of Sao Paulo builds plant to make China’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, CoronaVac
Uploaded: 2020-11-12T14:09:29.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Brazilian state of Sao Paulo builds plant to make China’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, CoronaVac

CoronaVac phase 3 testing allowed to restart in Latin American country after it was suspended earlier this week

Chinese regulator is meanwhile assessing Fosun Pharma’s application for human trials of promising BioNTech candidate

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A worker checks syringes of CoronaVac on the production line at Sinovac in Beijing. Photo: TNS

Zhuang Pinghui

Published: 10:09pm, 12 Nov 2020Updated: 4:38am, 13 Nov 2020

China’s race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is gathering pace after a trial resumed for one candidate in Brazil, while another is awaiting approval for human tests.

Promising candidate CoronaVac, developed by Beijing-based Sinovac Life Sciences, has been allowed to restart its phase 3 trial in Brazil after it was suspended earlier this week.

Brazilian health authority Anvisa on Wednesday said the suspension – triggered by a “severe adverse event” on October 29 – was lifted after further information was provided by Sinovac’s local partner, the Butantan Institute. Local media reported that the incident was the suicide of a trial participant.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Haibin on Thursday said Beijing was “pleased” about the development, emphasising the “good cooperation” between China and Brazil in the coronavirus fight.

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Brazilian state of Sao Paulo builds plant to make China’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, CoronaVac

Meanwhile, Shanghai-based Fosun Pharma said the Chinese drug regulator was assessing its application for human trials of its candidate, which had promising results in a recent evaluation in the United States.

The experimental vaccine, developed by its German partner BioNTech, was found to be more than 90 per cent effective in stopping the virus in a phase 3 trial in the United States. The trial was conducted by BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer, which has global commercial rights to the vaccine except in China. Fosun has a licensing agreement for the vaccine covering mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.