Chinese firm gets approval to begin human testing for potential coronavirus vaccine

Researchers and companies are testing six experimental shots in humans

PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

BEIJING:
China has approved a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products’ unit to begin human testing, the company said in a filing on Tuesday.

The potential vaccine, co-developed by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has received a certificate from the National Medical Products Administration to launch clinical trials.


Chinese researchers and companies are testing six experimental shots in humans, and more than a dozen vaccines are in different stages of clinical trials globally against the virus that has killed over 470,000 people.

However, none of the vaccines have passed large-scale, late-stage phase 3 clinical trials, a necessary step before entering the consumer market.

strong { float: none; }blockquote { background: #f3f3f3; text-align: center; padding: 20px; position: relative; font-style: italic; font-size: 1.2em; } blockquote::before, blockquote::after { color: black; font-size: 3em; font-family: serif; font-weight: bold; position: absolute; } blockquote::before { content: "“"; left: 10px; top: -10px; } blockquote::after { content: "”"; right: 10px; bottom: -10px; }strong.location-names { height: 22px; }.sidebar-blog.widget-spacing { top: 0 !important; }.storypage-social-bottom { display: block !important; }.parnter-info span { display: none; } sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption h3, .sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption p:first-child { font-size: 18px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif !important; }h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, ul.sidebarblog-withthumbnail h3 { text-shadow: none !important; }.sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption h3, .sidebarblog-withthumbnail .sidebarblog-caption p:first-child { font-size: 19px; font-family: georgia,sans-serif; }.sidebarblogmain-img h3 { font-size: 22px; line-height: 23px; }@media screen and (max-width: 767px) { span.story-text p, span.story-text p a { font-size: 20px; } }.story-inner-caption, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h2, span.branding, span.branding.video-branding-flex-cta-item { color: #000 !important; } .navbar-wrapper { max-height: 40px; }ul.logo-links li, ul.logo-links li a, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h2, .story-leftside-relateditems.related-comp h3, .tbl-ccpa, .tbl-ccpa-right { color: black !important; } ul.sidebarblog-withthumbnail { min-height: 300px !important; } /* Hide Google anchor ads */ ins.adsbygoogle[data-anchor-status] { display: none !important; height: 0 !important; visibility: hidden !important; } html { /* Old-school fallback (forces scrollbar space even if not needed) */ overflow-y: scroll; /* Modern browsers (reserves scrollbar gutter space without showing a disabled scrollbar) */ scrollbar-gutter: stable; } .w-button { display: none !important; }@media only screen and (min-width: 1024px) { span.top-big-img .featured-image-global img { width: 100% !important;max-width: 100%; }.story-inner-caption { padding-top: 16px; } }p:empty { display: none; }@media only screen and (min-width: 1024px) { div#google_ads_iframe_\/11952262\/tribune-business-print-story-2_0__container__ { max-height: 90px !important; overflow: hidden; } }div#google_ads_iframe_\/11952262\/tribune-entertainment-story-mrec-1_0__container__ { margin-bottom: 15px; }.featured-image-global { display: block; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 405 / 300; /* use correct ratio for main images */ } .sidebarblog-img .featured-image-global { aspect-ratio: 165 / 106; /* for thumbnails */ } .sidebar-social-icons ul li a { display: inline-block; width: 32px; height: 32px; } span.comment-time { color: black; } span.comment-time { color: black; }.storypage-rightside .featured-image-global { position: relative; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 640 / 480; /* Reserve space for story image */ overflow: hidden; } .storypage-rightside .featured-image-global img { width: 100%; height: 100%; object-fit: cover; display: block; } @media only screen and (max-width: 600px) { .storypage-rightside .featured-image-global { aspect-ratio: 412 / 290; } }