Two New Vaccines Join COVID Fight As China Ships Millions Overseas
Newcomers to Speed Up Slow Domestic Rollout?
Executive Summary
CanSino's adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccine, along with another from state-owned Sinopharm, have been granted prompt conditional approvals in China, taking to four the number approved in the country and as Beijing ships millions of doses around the world.
Days after two vaccines against the coronavirus gained the conditional approval green light in China, two more have joined the fight.
CanSino Biologics Inc.’s adenovirus-based Ad5-nCoV was granted formal conditional approval in the country on 25 February, and will be used partly for military personnel. Developed with the China Military Academy of Medical Science, its offers a one-shot inoculation regimen, unlike the two already available, which are based on an inactivated virus, a mature technology that has been around for decades.
Early clinical data from a Phase III study in Pakistan, disclosed by the Pakistani Minister of Health, show the CanSino vaccine had a protection rate of 79%, comparable to the one-shot, viral vector vaccine being developed by US giant Johnson & Johnson, which is pending regulatory review in the US.
Previously, CanSino said it had enrolled more elderly and sicker patients into its study, which was conducted in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Pakistan and Russia. A broader data analysis showed that at 28 days following dosing, the overall protection rate was 65.3%, rising to 68% at 14 days following inoculation.
Meanwhile, state-owned Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG) also received conditional approval from the National Medical Products Administration on 25 February for its second COVID-19 vaccine, after gaining the green light on 31 December for its BBIBP-CorV vaccine, developed by the behemoth’s Beijing-based institute. (Also see "China Grants Conditional Approval To CNBG COVID Vaccine" - Scrip, 2 Jan, 2021.)
The new vaccine, developed by CNBG’s institute in Wuhan - the original epicenter of the pandemic - offered a 72.5% protection rate in late Phase III studies conducted in countries including the United Arab Emirates, noted the institute.
On 7 February, China granted another conditional approval to Sinovac Biotech Ltd.'s CoronaVac, paving the way for two vaccines to become available on the market before the start of the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday starting 11 February. Sinovac reported 50.6% efficacy for the inactivated virus-based vaccine.
Unlike the two mRNA vaccines being rolled out in the west, from Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE and Moderna, Inc., the Chinese vaccines require no super-cold storage - CanSino's vector-based vaccine can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius - and this coupled with cost advantages may make them attractive to countries around the world.
Slow Domestic Rollout
Meanwhile in China, wider roll-out of the approved vaccines is underway. Around Beijing, the largest city in the country, a campaign to register the public to get vaccinated has started, after priority groups had received their shots. Physicians, healthcare workers, port and inspection workers, delivery and transportation staff, as well as market vendors, were all prioritized first.
CNBG CEO Yang Xiaoming has previously said the goal is to have 600 million doses ready for domestic programs. So far, health authorities estimated 40 million people have been inoculated, accounting for less than 3% of China's total population.
For the general public, China is targeting younger people rather than the elderly, which are considered to have a higher risk of infection by many countries. China is first calling on those aged 18-59 to get their jabs and a National Health Commission official has said that senior citizens will receive the vaccines after that. (Also see "China Sees No Variant Impact On Vaccines, Builds New mRNA Plant" - Scrip, 22 Dec, 2020.)
Externally, China has been shipping millions of doses of the vaccines to countries around the world, mainly in Africa, East Europe and Latin America.
CNBG has gained emergency use authorizations for its BBIBP-CorV vaccine in Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, Morocco, Nepal, Bolivia and Argentina. The Beijing-based group has also shipped one million doses to Serbia, 550,000 to Hungary, 300,000 to Peru, 200,000 to Senegal and 100,000 to Belarus. Among Asian countries, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei have also received Chinese vaccines.
Sinovac’s CoronaVac has gained emergency use approval in Hong Kong and a total of one million doses have been shipped to the city. Hong Kong has ordered a total of 7.5 million doses from Sinovac, AstraZeneca PLC and Pfizer/BioNTech, the latter to be delivered by Chinese partner Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd..
To date, China has delivered nearly 3.3 million doses of its vaccines around the world.