RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm reported its vaccine developed against the novel coronavirus is safe and has proven successful in developing strong antibodies in stages 1 and 2 of trials. All trial subjects were administered two doses of the vaccine every three to four weeks and developed antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus.
The news was released shortly after the world reached the ten million case mark for Covid-19 without any treatment yet approved for regular use, so every treatment is considered experimental.
Clinical trials for Sinopharm’s vaccine began on April 27th, with 1,120 randomly selected volunteers. It was double-blind research, which implies that neither the researchers nor the patients knew what was being administered against the disease – one of the most assertive ways to prove a study’s efficacy. There was also one group that was administered a placebo version of the vaccine.
The phamaceutical company is expanding its vaccine manufacturing capacity against SARS-CoV-2. According to the company, its plants in Wuhan and Beijing can produce at least 200 million doses of potential protection. This is the second vaccine developed by the company and the first to show positive results.
In all, another 200 vaccines are under development by pharmaceutical companies in cooperation with universities and research centers all over the planet. Only 15 of these have gone into clinical trials and are considered potential candidates to eliminate Covid-19 infection. One such candidate is from Oxford University in partnership with the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical firm, which will be tested in Brazil.
China is developing vaccines in five categories – inactive, protein-based, attenuated, adenovirus-based, and nucleic acid-based. China’s Coronavac, developed by Sinovac Biotech, will be tested on 9,000 people in Brazil through a partnership with the Butantan Institute. This option was developed based on the virus itself.
Source: Exame