China's Sinovac gets positive results in COVID-19 vaccine trials
China's Sinovac Biotech has announced "positive" results from the clinical trials of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The company claims that its shot, which uses a killed strain of novel coronavirus, has been able to generate an immune response with sufficient neutralizing antibodies in hundreds of healthy individuals, and is set to go into Phase III trials in Brazil pretty soon. Here's more about it.
743 individuals tested with the vaccine in Phase I/II trials
After successful animal trials a few months ago, Sinovac tested its 'CoronaVac' shot on as many as 743 healthy volunteers, aged between 18 and 59, as part of Phase I and Phase II clinical studies. Out of this batch, some individuals got the vaccine at a gap of 14 days, some were tested on a 28-day schedule, while others were administered with a placebo.
14-day schedule generated antibodies with safety
While the results of the 28-day schedule are not yet available, Sinovac has confirmed that vaccinating at the gap of 14 days did generate neutralizing antibodies in the volunteers. Specifically, the company found that 90% of the people who got the vaccine on the shorter schedule gained a positive immune response 14 days after being vaccinated. The dose did not have adverse effects.
Larger Phase III trials to begin soon
Now, Sinovac says it is preparing to submit the results of the Phase II trial to China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Then, with NMPA's approval, it hopes to proceed with the final phase of the trial, which will see the vaccine being administered on a larger batch of people in Brazil. The data from all three trials will be published in academic journals.
Work to scale up manufacturing also going on
"Our phase I/II study shows CoronaVac is safe and can induce immune response," Sinovac CEO Weidong Yin said, adding that the company is also investing "in building a manufacturing facility so that we can maximize the number of doses available to protect people from COVID-19."
Other vaccines in clinical trials
Along with Sinovac, four other Chinese companies have moved into late-stage clinical trials. Outside China, American companies Moderna Therapeutics and Novavax and AstraZeneca from the UK are racing to kickstart the final-stage trials. In all, there are 10 candidate vaccines that are moving through clinical human trials in outbreak regions (Brazil, India, and the US) around the world.
