CanSino's recombinant COVID-19 vaccine approved as special military drug
Chinese
biopharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics Inc announced on Monday that a
recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine (Ad5-nCoV) the company developed with a
military research team has received special one-year military drug approval.
The approval for the military use of Ad5-nCoV was granted by the Health Bureau
of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission on June
25, for one year, the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on
Monday. Ad5-nCoV is currently limited to military use and cannot be expanded to
a broader vaccination range without the approval of the Logistics Support
Department, the statement said.
Ad5-nCoV is being jointly developed by CanSino and a team led by military
infectious disease expert Chen Wei from the Institute of Biotechnology under
the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
The vaccine was approved for clinical trials in March. Phase one and two
clinical trials for Ad5-nCoV have been conducted in China, with phase two
trials were unveiled on June 11, 2020, according to CanSino. Data from the
clinical trials showed a good safety profile and high levels of humoral and
cellular immune responses. The overall clinical results indicate Ad5-nCoV has
the potential to prevent diseases caused by SARS-CoV-2. According to regulations
of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) covering drugs, special military
drugs are those that the military uses to prevent and treat war injuries and
diseases in special military environments.
Such drugs are limited to military use. Local medical institutes have to obtain
the approval of local provincial-level governments and the military logistics
support department to use such drugs, according to the regulations.
Li Daguang, a professor at the National Defense University of the PLA, told the
Global Times on Monday that the approval process for Ad5-nCoV to become a
special military drug followed the normal procedures.
The move is mainly intended to encourage and promote COVID-19 vaccine research
and development (R&D) amid the current tough pandemic situation, according
to Li.
Global infections reached 10,180,816 as of press time after the number topped
10 million on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University's tracking of the
data.
Li noted
that the status of "special military drug" would not affect the
normal R&D procedure and marketing process of the vaccine.
Special military drugs have to obtain the approval of the military logistics
support department and China's national drug supervision department before
being used for civilians, according to the regulations.
CanSino announced in May that it had obtained approval from the Canadian
National Research Council to conduct clinical trials for Ad5-nCoV, though it
didn't disclose further details.
Source:
Global Times
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A
researcher works at lab of Beagle Bio Tech in East China’s Jiangsu Province on
March 17. Photo by Shi Kang/People’s Daily Online |

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