Technology
China is running a human coronavirus vaccine trial in the UAE
(Reuters) China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has received approval for a large-scale 'Phase 3' clinical trial of its novel coronavirus vaccine candidate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the company said on Tuesday.
China is seeking to study possible vaccines overseas due to a shortage of new patients at home.
More than a dozen experimental vaccines are being tested worldwide. None of them have yet successfully completed a late-stage "Phase 3" test to determine the efficacy of protecting healthy people from the virus, which killed more than 470,000 people around the world.
Such trials involve thousands of participants and usually take place in countries where the virus is widespread, so that the vaccine can be observed in a real-life environment.
Nevertheless, China, the root of the global pandemic, reported fewer than 10 new local cases a day on average last month, and its researchers are now looking abroad.
CNBG announced a move to the Weibo social media post without naming the vaccine to be tested in the UAE.
CNBG, a state-owned subsidiary of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), has developed two potential vaccines that have been administered to more than 2,000 people in previous tests in China.
Clover Biopharmaceuticals, whose shots were given to participants in an early trial in Australia and Sinovac Biotech, which is scheduled to launch a phase 3 trial in Brazil with 9,000 volunteers. Other Chinese companies searching for vaccines abroad include
Reuters; Writing by Roxanne Liu and Se Young Lee in Beijing; Editing by Kevin Liffey
