What next for Chinese coronavirus vaccines after WHO approves first two products?
- The global health body has approved the emergency use of products made by Sinovac and Sinopharm, and three more have formally registered their interest
- Drugs given the green light can also be used by the Covax Facility, which is designed to ensure equal access to vaccines
Three pharmaceutical firms have formally registered their interest with the WHO, while two others are in preliminary discussions.
One of the three firms, CanSino, started submitting rolling data about its one-shot vaccine to the global health body this month, according to the WHO. Its vaccine has already been approved for use in mainland China after interim results showed it was 65.7 per cent effective.
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WHO approves Sinovac Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use
Another product developed by Sinopharm and its affiliated institute in Wuhan has had an application registered for an emergency use listing.
The vaccine has been tested in a bundled trial with another Sinopharm vaccine that has already been given the green light by the WHO, and the state-owned company published the result of the trials of the two vaccines in an international journal last week.
On Monday, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products said it had started work on a new factory that would increase its production capacity of Covid-19 vaccines to at least one billion doses, an important step toward hitting Sinopharm’s target of producing three billion doses of both vaccines this year.
The third Chinese company, a subsidiary of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products, has also formally registered its interest, but has been asked to supply further information.