Local firms display advances in COVID-19 battle

SHANGHAI is making progress in developing a COVID-19 vaccine, neutralizing antibody treatment and intelligent nucleic acid testing, as demonstrated at the China International Industry Fair.

Shanghai BioGerm Medical Technology Co, one of the first manufacturers of coronavirus detection reagent, is displaying its latest invention: an automated nucleic acid extraction work station.

The device can handle 96 samples per hour, while a human technician needs about 3 hours to test the same number.

“The device frees medical staff from risky tasks and increases efficiency,” BioGerm’s Liang Yuting said. “It's expected to be on the market in November.”

Meanwhile, a candidate vaccine developed by Shanghai-based Stemirna Therapeutics is expected to be approved for clinical trials by the end of this year, Shanghai Daily learned.

Stemirna uses new mRNA technology to test vaccines based on the genetic sequence of the virus. Such vaccines mimic the virus, stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies.

Chinese scientists are now mainly focused on vaccines made from inert virus samples, while their overseas counterparts pay more attention to mRNA vaccines which represent a more promising and safer alternative. Stemirna describes itself as a Chinese leader in the development of mRNA vaccines, the company said.

A neutralizing antibody treatment, JS016, developed by Shanghai Junshi Biosciences is under clinical trials in both China and the United States.

Unlike a vaccine, neutralizing antibody treatments are believed to be able to both treat affected people and protect healthy people with high infection risks, including the elderly and medical workers, from becoming infected.

The treatment has been given to volunteers both in China and the US through intravenous injection, becoming the first tests of neutralizing antibody treatment against the coronavirus in non-infected people. So far, trials show positive results for human use.

The JS016 was isolated from recovered patients’ blood, and the antibody genes were copied and engineered through advanced technologies to work in others, Shanghai Junshi Biosciences said.