SDIC-Participated COVID-19 Vaccine to Undergo Clinical Trials

A recombinant vaccine against the COVID-19 jointly developed by two subsidiaries of State Development & Investment Corp., Ltd. (SDIC) and the Academy of Military Medical Sciences was approved to start clinical testing on March 16.

It is China's first COVID-19 vaccine candidate and the first trials will be carried out in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province.

The research team arrived at Wuhan on Jan 26 and started studies on the COVID-19 recombinant vaccine with respect to pharmaceutical science, pharmacodynamics as well as pharmacology and toxicology.

Chen Wei, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering who participated in the research, said the preparations on safety, effectiveness and controlled quality as well as relevant work to mass produce the vaccine had been made in accordance with both international and Chinese regulations.

CanSino Biologics Inc., invested by the subsidiary of SDIC, was founded in Tianjin in 2009 and focuses on developing and producing innovative public health vaccines for China and the world.

The company now has four innovative vaccine platform technologies which are adenovirus vector vaccine production, combination technology, protein design and recombination, and drug preparation.

The company so far has development lines for 16 vaccines for 13 viruses including the recombinant vaccine of the Ebola virus approved in 2017 and the COVID-19 vaccine currently under testing.

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)