Sinovac COVID vaccine CoronaVac shows positive results in early trial
The phase II clinical trial results show that the vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies 14 days after the vaccination with a 0,14 day schedule.
Beijing: Sinovac Biotech Ltd. has announced positive preliminary results of phase I/II clinical trial for the Company's COVID-19 vaccine candidate, named CoronaVac, which showed favorable immunogenicity and safety profiles.
The phase I/II clinical trials were designed as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled studies. In total, 743 healthy volunteers, aged from 18 to 59 years old, enrolled in the trials. Of those, 143 volunteers are in phase I and 600 volunteers are in phase II. There have been no severe adverse event reported in either the phase I or phase II trials. The phase II clinical trial results show that the vaccine induces neutralizing antibodies 14 days after the vaccination with a 0,14 day schedule. The neutralizing antibody seroconversion rate is above 90%, which concludes the vaccine candidate can induce a positive immune response.
The Company expects to submit a phase II clinical study report and a phase III clinical study protocol to China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) in the near future and commence application of phase III clinical trials outside of China. As previously announced on June 11, 2020, Sinovac is collaborating with Instituto Butantan in Brazil to prepare and conduct a phase III clinical study.
Mr Weidong Yin, Chairman, President and CEO of Sinovac, commented, "Our phase I/II study shows CoronaVac is safe and can induce an immune response. Concluding our phase I/II clinical studies with these encouraging results is another significant milestone we have achieved in the fight against COVID-19. We have started to invest in building a manufacturing facility so that we can maximize the number of doses available to protect people from COVID-19. Like with our other vaccines, we are committed to developing CoronaVac for global use as part of our mission of supplying vaccines to eliminate human diseases."
As announced previously, Sinovac's development of a vaccine against COVID-19 began in January 2020 in partnership with leading academic research institutes in China. The Company received approval from China's NMPA on April 13 to conduct phase I/II studies on its inactivated vaccine candidate against COVID-19 in China.
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