Chinese Firm 'Ready to Mass Produce' Coronavirus Vaccine

A Chinese pharmaceutical firm undertaking human coronavirus vaccine trials claims it is about to continue manufacturing the drug on a large scale.

Sinovac Biotech – the first organization in the world to produce a vaccine for H1N1 swine flu – has made significant strides with its work and claims that it is already in a position to start manufacturing 100 million vaccines a year.

The Beijing-based firm is behind one of China's four approved clinical coronavirus vaccine trials. While just two weeks into clinical trials – and the vaccine has a long way to go until it is approved – thousands of Coronavac experimental drugs have already been manufactured, AFP reported.

This is because Sinovac must show that it is capable of manufacturing a drug on a wide scale and must send quantities for testing to the authorities.

Last week, the company announced that its vaccination, consisting of a chemically inactivated variant of the virus, had "largely protected" monkeys from contracting the current coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19.

In human trials, which started on 16 April, Sinovac delivered the medication to 144 volunteers. It aims to assess the efficacy of the vaccine by the end of June, before progressing to the third step of the experiment, which will involve the monitoring of human carriers of the virus.

However, there’s still no word on when the drug might make it to market. "This is the question everyone is asking,” Sinovac director of brand management Liu Peicheng told AFP.

While more than 100 laboratories around the world are racing to come up with a vaccine, reports say only seven have come as far as clinical trials.

Source: RFI