New Delhi (NVI): China’s vaccine co-developed by biopharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics Inc has won a patent approval from Beijing for its COVID-19 vaccine.
A document published by China’s National Intellectual Property Administration said that the patent was submitted for application on March 18, and was approved on August 11, according to media reports.
The vaccine, dubbed as “Ad5-nCoV”, is the first COVID-19 vaccine patent granted by China.
China’s vaccine uses a modified common cold virus to introduce genetic material from the novel coronavirus into the human body. The goal is to train the body to produce antibodies that recognize the coronavirus’s spike protein and fight it off.
Meanwhile, on August 11, Russia registered the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, named ‘Sputnik V’, developed by the Gamaleya Institute. The vaccines first consignment had been produced and will be given to healthcare professionals on a voluntary basis.
Both countries’ vaccine obtained antibody and T-cell immune responses and neither prompted any serious side effects in early trials. T-cells are an important component of the immune system’s attack against foreign invaders, such as viruses.
The CanSino’s vaccine has already received the greenlight to be used by China’s military despite not yet undergoing the type of large-scale testing needed to prove its ability to prevent infection, as per the reports.
The vaccine candidate was the first in China to move into human testing in March but other potential vaccines developed by Sinovac Biotech and a unit of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) have already been approved for Phase 3 trials overseas.
Last month, the CanSino said that it is set to begin the Phase 3 clinical trials of its vaccine in Saudi Arabia. CanSino was also in talks with other countries, including Russia, Brazil and Chile to conduct the Phase 3 trials of the vaccine.
However, Saudi Arabia plans to test the vaccine alongside a placebo on 5,000 volunteers and is currently preparing trials in the cities of Riyadh, Dammam and Mecca.
-RJV
