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

Reading Time:2 minutes

Sinopharm’s experimental mRNA jab is similar to more effective foreign vaccines and is designed to target the Omicron variant. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:52pm, 20 Jan 2023Updated: 7:20pm, 20 Jan 2023

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.

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.

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

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