Cansino’s Covid-19 vaccine approved as booster shot
KUCHING: Solution Group Bhd’s (Solution) wholly-owned subsidiary Solution Biologics Sdn Bhd (SOLBIO), the Asean manufacturing partner of CanSino Biologics Inc (CanSino), recently announced that CanSino’s single-dose Convidecia vaccine has obtained the conditional approval as a booster shot from Malaysia’s Drug Control Authority (DCA), under the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
The DCA, in an announcement dated January 6, 2022, has consented for Convidecia, an adenovirus type-5 vector-based vaccine, to be used as a booster shot. The approval allows the CanSino vaccine to be used on adults aged 18 and above, three to six months after they have received their first dose of CanSino vaccine.
“We are delighted that the DCA has approved CanSino’s Convidecia vaccine as a booster shot,” Solution deputy group managing director Dato’ Dr. Mohd Nazlee Bin Kamal said.
“The Covid-19 cases remain high in the nation due to the Omicron variant of the virus, and just as with the reopening of the economy, there is a need to quicken the vaccine booster programme especially to difficultto-reach areas and states with low booster dose rates.
“Studies have shown that Convidecia’s single-dose vaccine is effective as a booster shot against the spread of Covid19 variants, demonstrating an increase of at least eight times higher neutralizing antibody levels, six months after receiving the first dose.
“With this approval, we hope that it will help to increase the number of booster doses administered within the nation to stem the spread of the highly infectious Covid-19.
“We are also working towards obtaining approval from NPRA for Convidecia vaccine to be used as booster for other primary vaccine recipient such as CoronoVac.
“Studies in China have shown taking CanSino’s Convidecia after two doses of inactivated Covid-19 vaccines has significant safety and efficacy advantages.
The results demonstrated that antibody levels from a Convidecia booster shot is 8.4 times higher in IgG antibody and 5.9 times higher in neutralising antibody in comparison with a booster shot from an inactivated vaccine.