This vaccine developed in China would be the first to use messenger RNA technology in the region, like Pfizer and Moderna.
vaccine candidate Covid-19 developed locally by China, that uses technology messenger RNA (mRNA) could start their final stage clinical trial abroad next month, officials said on Tuesday media.
ARCoV, the Chinese-developed Covid-19 mRNA vaccine candidate most advanced in the clinical trial process , could receive overseas approval to conduct Phase III clinical trials as soon as the end of April, Radio said. China National in an article on their website.
China has approved four locally developed coronavirus vaccines for use by the general public and a fifth for smaller-scale emergency use, but none of them use the mRNA platform . The country has administered more than 170 million vaccinations, the second highest number in the world after the United States.
The mRNA technology is used by injections developed by Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech , as well as Moderna Inc. It contains instructions for human cells to produce proteins similar to a part of the coronavirus.
ARCoV is being jointly developed by the Academy of Military Sciences (AMS), Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, and Walvax Biotechnology.
Overseas clinical trials could formally begin in May and South America could be a “first choice” as a testing site, the report said, citing an interview with Ying Bo, founder of Suzhou Abogen Biosciences.
Ying said data from early-stage trials have shown the vaccine to be “fully comparable to two foreign mRNA vaccines,” without providing details on specific numbers.
The phase II trial of ARCoV is ongoing in China and has finished injecting its participants, Qin Chengfeng, an AMS researcher leading the project, said Sunday during a vaccine presentation event. The results of the trial have not yet been made public.
Another Covid-19 vaccine candidate using mRNA technology being jointly developed by Chinese company Stemirna Therapeutics and Tibet Rhodiola Pharma has also obtained approval to start a clinical trial, Rhodiola said in January.