BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2021) China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) announced on Thursday granting conditional approval to COVID-19 vaccines developed by Tianjin-based pharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics and the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.
Both producers applied for authorization on Sunday.
The Ad5-nCoV vaccine by CanSino Biologics was developed jointly with the military, according to the NMPA. Built on an adenoviral vector platform, the vaccine showed an efficacy rate just above 65 percent during Phase 3 trials, which are still underway. This vaccine requires only one shot.
The Wuhan vaccine, built on the inactivated virus platform, requires two doses. Its interim efficacy rate during Phase 3 trials was established at 72.5 percent. The Wuhan Institute of Biological Products is administered by Chinese state company Sinopharm, which already had a COVID-19 vaccine developed by another one of its subsidiaries.
The number of Chinese homegrown vaccines with an NMPA use authorization has thus grown to four. Two others include the vaccines by Sinopharm's Beijing Institute of Biological Products and by Beijing-based company Sinovac Biotech.
