Coronavirus: Chinese developer to start human trials in UAE for vaccine candidate
- Wuhan Institute of Biological Products completed phase two tests showing it was safe and produced high levels of neutralising antibodies
- Another potential vaccine designed by Chinese scientists has also been cleared for human trials
A Chinese state-owned developer has been authorised to start phase three human trials of a Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the United Arab Emirates.
China National Biotec Group said the clinical trials were approved by the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention during a teleconference on Tuesday.
Its subsidiary, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, completed phase two human trials of the inactivated vaccine candidate, which showed it was safe and produced high levels of neutralising antibodies. Another candidate developed by a second subsidiary of the group is undergoing phase two trials.
Vaccine developers are looking overseas for phase three trials – which involve thousands of people – because there are no longer enough cases of Covid-19 within China, so it is not considered suitable for testing. Two other Chinese developers, CanSino and Sinovac Biotech, have previously announced they will start phase three trials elsewhere – in Canada and Brazil, respectively.
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The announcement came hours after the developers of another vaccine – Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical and the Institute of Microbiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences – said their candidate had been approved for human trials, without saying where they would be carried out.