Welcome back to another edition of the CBB. This week’s newsletter was compiled by CBB editor Qingxi (Tim) Jia.
Status on Covid-19 vaccine phase III trials:
By the end of July, the WHO’s draft of Covid-19 vaccines shows that only 6 developers/manufacturers have reached Phase 3. (out of 167 candidates)
University of Oxford/AstraZeneca
Sinovac
Sinopharm (Wuhan Institute of Biological Products)
Sinopharm (Beijing Institute of Biological Products)
Moderna/NIAID
BioNTech/Fosun Pharma/Pfizer
Leading Chinese candidates are from Sinovac, Sinopharm (Wuhan and Beijing branch), and CanSino.
More speculation about China Covid-19 vaccine development:
TIME: “According to Benjamin N. Gedan, a former regional director on the White House’s National Security Council now with the Wilson Center, “If China produces the first coronavirus vaccine at scale, it would be an extraordinary diplomatic tool anywhere in the world.”
Nature: Jerome Kim, director-general of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul. “The race is on,” he says, “and it’s really about who can set up in a high-risk area most quickly.” Many Chinese companies are at a disadvantage because they don’t have established networks of hospitals around the globe, Kim said.
China has made a $1bn loan to Latin American and Caribbean countries for access to coronavirus vaccine (The Independent).
Following Chinese Covid-19 vaccine development:
§ Sinovac: traditional inactivated vaccine called “CoronaVac”
o The phase 2 study shows that 2 doses of CoronaVac induced neutralizing antibodies 14 days after vaccination, over 90% of 600 healthy volunteers showed an immune response (FiercePharma).
o Phase 3:
o cooperating with Butantan Institute of Brazil, Sinovac plans to test on ~9000 medical professionals, who have greater exposure to the virus (Sinovac, Nature).
§ Sinopharm: traditional inactivated vaccine
o Phase 3:
o Cooperating with G42 Healthcare, an Adu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and cloud computing company, and with Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA), Sinopharm plans to test 15000 participants with 2 vaccine strains and a placebo (Reuters).
o G42 Healthcare explains that the United Arab Emirates was selected to host trials because of its diversity of more than 200 nationalities, allowing for research across various ethnicities (Pharmaceutical Business Review).
o Sinopharm has also injected the vaccine into its chairman and other senior officials, along with testing at a state-owned oil company PetroChina (NY Times).
§ CanSino (in partnership with China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences):adenovirus called Ad5
o CanSino and AstraZeneca both use the same method for their Covid-19 vaccine. Lancet papers analyzing released phase 2 data show that both have encouraging results.
o However, many people have pre-exiting immunity to CanSino’s viral vector, meaning vaccine effects may be compromised; spectators say the vaccine may be useful in children instead of adults (BioPharmaDive, Stat News).
o Phase 3:
§ CanSino is in talks with Russia, Brazil, Chile, and Saudi Arabia about conducting a Phase 3 with plans for 40,000 participants (Economic Times).
§ In the vaccine race, where does India, one of the world’s leading vaccine manufacturers, stand?
Read more about the Serum Institute of India (Observer Network via Baidu, link in Chinese).
o India manufactures 1.5 billion doses of various vaccines annually
o many Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers want access to their production lines
o Covid-19 vaccines are being prepared before clinical trials are over
o Oxford/AstraZeneca closed a deal with India for 400 million doses to be manufactured by 2021
o The Serum Institute of India is manufacturing at a risk the vaccine doesn’t work; however, they are 70-80% confident
o They have also agreed to make 1 billion doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine at a break-even cost for some under-developed/developing countries