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Coronavirus: Fosun Pharmaceutical shares surge as Beijing accepts application for clinical trial of vaccine candidate

  • The trial application for the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine – BNT162b1 – being jointly developed by Fosun and Germany’s BioNTech – has been accepted
  • The US FDA has also ‘fast tracked’ two experimental Covid-19 vaccines, one of which is BNT162b1

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Fosun Pharmaceutical obtained the licence from BioNTech to exclusively develop and commercialise BioNTech’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccine products in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, in March this year. Photo: Reuters
Eric Ng
Shares of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) surged as much as 10 per cent after it announced that an application for clinical trials of its novel coronavirus vaccine candidate has been accepted by Beijing.
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The trial application for the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine – BNT162b1 – in collaboration with German partner BioNTech was accepted by the National Medical Products Administration, the company said in a statement to Hong Kong’s bourse late on Monday.

“We will continue to maintain close contact with the administration and other relevant review authorities on the assessment of the vaccine candidate’s safety and efficacy,” Fosun Pharmaceutical CEO Wu Yifang said. “We will strive for clinical trial to begin soon and market the Covid-19 vaccine alongside other international vaccines’ launches.”

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Also on Monday, BioNTech and its partner Pfizer said that two of their experimental coronavirus vaccines, one of which is BNT162b1, and BNT162b2, had received ‘fast track’ designation from the US Food and Drug Administration.
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