Release coronavirus vaccine efficacy data, ex-China drug watchdog chief urges country’s pharma firms

Name: China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns
Uploaded: 2021-03-04T11:30:15.000Z
Duration: 3 min 5 s
Description: China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

Bi Jingquan urges Chinese pharmaceutical firms to be more transparent to build public trust in their products

Shots by Sinovac, Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics have been approved for use in some countries without publishing comprehensive phase 3 clinical trial results

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The former head of China’s drug regulator is calling on Chinese coronavirus vaccine makers to release more clinical trial data. Photo: Xinhua

Jack LauandJun Mai

Published: 7:30pm, 4 Mar 2021Updated: 1:55am, 5 Mar 2021

The former chief of China’s food and drug regulator has urged the country’s coronavirus vaccine makers to give more details about clinical trial data.

On the sidelines of the first day of the annual session of China’s top advisory body, Bi Jingquan said pharmaceutical firms should release efficacy information to build public trust.

“The companies should themselves know that, with data, the more transparency, the better,” Bi, the director of the China Food and Drug Administration between 2015 and 2018, said on Thursday.

“Publish all your data; it’s good for strengthening everybody’s trust.”

A number of domestically developed vaccines, including shots by Sinovac Biotech and state-owned Sinopharm, have been given qualified approval for public use in China and other countries, but the lack of publicly available data and transparency has raised concerns about their effectiveness.

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China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

Sinovac published combined phase 1 and 2 results for its CoronaVac vaccine in The Lancet medical journal in November but so far the company has not released efficacy data for the phase 3 trials through a peer-reviewed journal. Instead, governments in each of the countries where the trials took place have released their own data.