Coronavirus: China’s Sinopharm seeks general use green light for second vaccine

State firm says it has applied for approval for shot developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products

Work is also under way on a third jab using different technology that would be easier to scale up, company chairman says

Reading Time:3 minutes

A coronavirus vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products was granted conditional market approval in December. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:30pm, 22 Feb 2021Updated: 9:30pm, 22 Feb 2021

Just two months after its first coronavirus vaccine was approved for general use, Chinese pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm is applying for similar regulatory approval for a second, with plans for clinical trials for a third, group chairman Liu Jingzhen said.

The second vaccine was developed by Sinopharm subsidiary the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, and has been in phase 3 clinical trials in various countries since June.

The first vaccine was developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, another offshoot of the state-owned giant, and granted conditional market approval in December.

Liu told state broadcaster China Central Television on Sunday that Sinopharm had applied for a market launch of the Wuhan institute vaccine, which would supplement existing output.

“The production facility of Wuhan institute has a phase one capacity of more than 100 million doses,” Liu said. “If we count Wuhan and Beijing together ... the combined capacity of the production facilities will reach 1 billion [doses] this year.”

Sinopharm said in December that the Beijing institute vaccine was 79 per cent effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 diseases but it did not elaborate on the results or publish trial data. The product has been approved for general use in the United Arab Emirates and for emergency use in Argentina, Nepal, Egypt, Pakistan and Peru.