Covid-19: China’s Sinopharm mRNA vaccine approved for clinical trials

Experimental jab is similar to more effective foreign vaccines, will target Omicron variant
Drug maker says it could produce up to 2 billion doses a year

Coronavirus China

Hayley Wong

Published: 6:52pm, 20 Jan 2023

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Chinese drug maker Sinopharm said its mRNA vaccine, which targets the Omicron variant of Covid-19, has been approved for clinical trials, with facilities ready to produce up to 2 billion jabs a year.

On Friday, the company posted on social media platform WeChat that its messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine had received approval the previous day from the National Medical Products Administration of China to begin trials.

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The experimental vaccine modelled the spike protein of the Omicron variant, instead of the original Sars-CoV-2 virus, and used a new antigen design, which boosted the ability of neutralising antibodies to defend cells from pathogens, according to the statement.

Sinopharm has built a research and development centre and a production line in Nanxiang in Shanghai, which it said is capable of producing up to 2 billion doses a year.

“[It] builds the capacity to develop and mass-produce vaccines targeting the sudden spread of infectious disease,” said Jia Weiguo, chief scientist at Sinopharm.

So far, Sinopharm has been providing one China’s inactivated vaccines, an older technology that involves injecting a weakened or inactivated form of the virus.

Inactivated vaccines have been shown to be less effective than mRNA jabs and require longer production times.

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In contrast, mRNA vaccines, including those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, direct cells to produce copies of the coronavirus spike protein to trigger an immune response.

At least six domestic mRNA vaccines, including CanSino Biologics and CSPC Pharmaceutical, have been approved for testing. Clinical trials of the AWcorna mRNA vaccine are under way in Mexico and Indonesia.

AWcorna, formerly called ARCoVax, was co-developed by Walvax Biotechnology, Suzhou Abogen Biosciences and the Academy of Military Medical Science. It targets the Omicron variant as well, but the final phase results are still under review.

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Experts have stressed that China should import mRNA vaccines to prevent high mortality rates, especially after Beijing ended zero-Covid restrictions and mass testing.

After China’s abrupt policy shift from zero-Covid, a surge of infections have swept across the country, overwhelming hospitals and mortuaries. Since travel restrictions were lifted, mainland residents have flocked to Hong Kong and Macau to obtain mRNA vaccines.

But health authorities have repeatedly defended the home-grown vaccines as “safe and effective”, dimming hopes that the more effective foreign mRNA vaccines would be imported for residents.