Chinese firm working on Covid-19 mRNA vaccine that can be stored at fridge temperature
- Guangzhou RiboBio’s product, which has been tested on animals, has a shelf life of about six months when stored at between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius
- Scientists from the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology of China also working on a vaccine with a nanocarrier-based delivery system
Zhang Biliang, the company’s founder, was quoted as saying the firm had the biggest mRNA raw material factory in China with capacity to produce enough doses for 100 million people a year.
The product could be stored at a higher temperature than other Covid-19 mRNA vaccines because of the “lipid nanoparticles patented technology” his team had developed, he said.
Comparing mRNA vaccines to an egg, Zhang said the shell was a lipid compound that carried the mRNA fragment, which stimulated the immune system, adding that vaccine producers were looking for different ways to stabilise and make the shell safer.
Meanwhile, scientists at the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology of China are developing a vaccine with a nanocarrier-based delivery system, the newspaper report quoted its director general, Zhao Yuliang, as saying.