Brazil joins China in quest for vaccine

Brazil and other countries including Malaysia, Canada and the UK will join China’s efforts to strengthen global cooperation in COVID-19 vaccine trials, as the Institute Butantan in Brazil plans to cooperate in Phase III clinical trials for an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by a Chinese company.

Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech and Instituto Butantan, a leading Brazilian producer of immunobiologic products, have agreed to collaborate in Phase III clinical trials of CoronaVac, Sinovac’s inactivated vaccine candidate against COVID-19.

The two parties aim to establish extensive collaboration in technology licensing, market authorization and commercialization of CoronaVac, according to Sinovac.

The Butantan Institute will spend 85 million reals ($17.1 million) to conduct trials on 9,000 Brazilian volunteers, São Paulo Governor João Doria said on Thursday. He said that if the vaccine proved effective, it could be mass-produced in São Paulo, starting from the first half of next year.

Liu Peicheng, a spokesperson for Sinovac, said that the Phase III trials would only start after being approved by the health authorities in China and Brazil. “The choices of locations for clinical trials depend on the current epidemic situations in host countries and estimated development trends, the willingness of partners and local governments, and researchers’ clinical experience and capability.”

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil exceeded 880,000 as of Monday, according to Brazilian health authorities.

As Brazil is at the epicenter of the epidemic, it is beneficial to carry out research on the actual protective effects of vaccines against the coronavirus, which is the key to China-Brazil cooperation, said Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert.

“If the Phase III clinical trials in Brazil go smoothly and on schedule, the critical data to prove efficacy of the vaccine can be obtained within two months and approval for mass production is likely by October,” he said.

All five types of COVID-19 vaccines in China are reportedly being developed under international cooperation with at least seven countries including Canada, the UK, the US and Germany.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation confirmed that it is working with the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia on possible cooperation in vaccine clinical trials. A Chinese university has shown interest in being the Malaysian ministry’s strategic partner in co-developing the vaccine through clinical research.