CHINA’S VACCINE SHOWS POSITIVE SIGNS IN TRIALS: RESEARCHERS

BEIJING/ WASHINGTON: A coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by a unit of the China National Pharmaceutical Group, called Sinopharm, appeared to be safe and triggered antibody-based immune responses in early and mid-stage trials, researchers said.

The candidate has already moved into a late-stage trial, one of a handful of candidates being tested on several thousand people to see if they are effective enough to win regulatory approval.

Sinopharm is testing the vaccine in the UAE in a Phase 3 trial expected to recruit 15,000 people, as China has too few new cases to be a useful trial site.

The company will also supply the candidate to Pakistan as part of a trial agreement, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The shot did not cause any serious side effects, according to a paper published on Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association by scientists who are part of Sinopharm and other China-based disease control authorities and research institutes. The results were based on data from 320 healthy adults in Phase 1 and 2 trials.

In the US, officials said the government will ensure that a successful Covid-19 vaccine, once it comes up, will be distributed for free to all Americans. “(But) we are not reducing the regulatory rigour with which we will evaluate and approve vaccines,” Paul Mango, a senior health department official, told reporters.

Washington has invested more than $10 billion in six vaccine projects and signed contracts guaranteeing the delivery of hundreds of millions of doses.