China’s 2nd protein subunit vaccine to enter clinical trials

China’s COVID- 19 protein subunit vaccines have reported encouraging progress as a leading Chinese vaccine producer, Sinopharm, plans to bring its newly developed recombinant subunit vaccine candidate into clinical trials.

Sinopharm’s vaccine is the second protein subunit vaccine in the country after one developed by China’s Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co, which started late- stage trials in Pakistan upon approval on Sunday.

The protein subunit vaccine is expected to perform better than the inactivated vaccines, and would be easier to mass produce, Sinopharm Chairman Liu Jingzhen suggested in a recent interview with China Central Television ( CCTV).

Liu said its second COVID- 19 inactivated vaccine – developed by subsidiary Wuhan Institute of Biological Products – is now applying for conditional approval for mass use.

Experts said the recombinant subunit vaccine can be an important addition to the two Chinese inactivated vaccines already in mass production, considering its shorter production process.

“Traditional inactivated vaccines normally take several months to develop, and require biosafety level 3 labs for production. Meanwhile, access to the recombinant protein vaccine is easier, and the biotechnology is more mature than the mRNA and adenovirus- vector techniques used in some available vaccines,” said Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou- based vaccine expert.