China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and Sinovac Biotech Ltd announced Saturday that four more countries have agreed to conduct late-stage clinical trials of their coronavirus candidate vaccines as China intensifies its efforts in the global race.
Serbia and Pakistan are among the new countries to accept phase 3 studies as the two companies seek more data abroad amid the dwindling new cases in China.
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Serbia will test two vaccines developed by CNBG's units in Wuhan and Beijing, and Pakistan will test the candidate unit in Beijing, the company told Reuters.
The CNBG's Phase 3 study is expected to enroll 50,000 people in about 10 countries, said Zhang Yuntao, vice president of the CNBG. Trials have already started in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Peru, Morocco, Argentina and Jordan.
Zhang said it had shown interest abroad to order a total of 500 million doses of its vaccines.
CNBG is expected to produce 300 million doses of vaccine per year as manufacturing techniques improve and is working on a plan to increase its annual capacity to 1 billion doses, Zhang said.
Sinovac's vaccine candidate, CoronaVac, which was tested in Brazil and Indonesia, also received approvals from two other countries for Phase 3 studies, said Helen Yang, senior director of global strategy and business development at Sinovac.
She declined to name the countries because the information is still confidential.
While the final phase of research is still underway to prove that the vaccines are safe and effective, China has already approved Sinovac and CNBG vaccine candidates for emergency use in people at risk as physicians.
According to Yang von Sinovac, tens of thousands of people have already guided CoronaVac through the emergency program.
CNBG will soon send its vaccines to Chinese employees who work in embassies and consulates abroad, Zhang said.
