China Biotech Bulletin #13
Brazil plays vaccine politics with China, Russia's Sputnik V, and more
China suffers vaccine backlash in Brazil.
On November 9, the Brazilian government announced that they would halt the country’s Sinovac trial because of an adverse event. (NYTimes)
The trial went on after a pause of just a day and a storm of complaints. (Associated Press)
Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro has launched a crusade against João Doria, a critic of Bolsonaro and the governor of Brazil's largest state, São Paulo. The vaccine, which Doria has lauded, has come into the crosshairs.
“Brazil's internal debate over the Chinese vaccine may prove a microcosm of how the global vaccine race plays out in months to come,” with US-aligned OECD countries pushing back on Chinese vaccines and developing countries being unable to afford anything but Chinese versions. (Fortune)
Although China’s Sinovac has not released effectiveness data, researchers said its vaccine, Coronavac, “could provide sufficient protection, based on their experience with other vaccines and data from preclinical studies with macaques.” (Reuters)
Meanwhile, 3 vaccines outside of China are promoted as over 90% effective.
Russia’s vaccine “Sputnik V,” was said to be 92% effective by developers. However, CBS reported at least 4 Russian healthcare workers injected have since contracted the virus.
American vaccinemaker Moderna announced its vaccine was 94.5% effective. (Politico)
Pfizer, in cooperation with German company BioNTech, announced a 95% effective rate after earlier giving a 90% rate. Pfizer representatives said they would apply to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization “within days.” (NYTimes)
Go deeper on Pfizer’s vaccine (FiveThirtyEight)
Parting shot: Top 10 biotechs to know in China (Fierce Pharma).
Bonus: Longread on safety issues with China’s vaccine development process (Japan Times)