The world leading academic medical journal The Lancet recently published a paper on the results of Phase I/II clinical research of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine CoronaVac. 

The paper says that the vaccine can trigger a rapid immune response. In the phase II clinical trial, the neutralizing antibody positive seroconversion rate reached over 90% 28 days after two doses of the vaccine.

Developed by Beijing Sinovac Research & Development Co, a subsidiary of the Zhongguancun Enterprise Sinovac Biotech, CoronaVac is undergoing phase III clinical trials.

Screenshot of The Lance [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Based on experience gained in the development of SARS vaccines, the scientific research team of Beijing Sinovac has worked in collaboration with the Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Laboratory Animals of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other research institutes to step up development of the COVID-19 vaccine.

CoronaVac was approved by the National Medical Products Administration for entry into clinical research on April 13, becoming the first inactivated vaccine against the COVID-19 developed by a Beijing company to be approved for clinical trials.

CoronaVac developed by Beijing Sinovac [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A paper published in The Lancet pointed out that the world urgently needs a vaccine that can effectively prevent the coronavirus. CoronaVac is one of the vaccine candidates, and researchers have studied its safety, tolerability and immunogenicity.

From April 16 to 25, a total of 144 subjects were enrolled in the phase I clinical trial; from May 3 to 5, 600 subjects were enrolled in the phase II clinical trial. The results show that the vaccine can trigger a rapid immune response.

Professor Zhu Fengcai, one of the main authors of the paper and deputy director of the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that the test results showed that two doses of vaccines 14 days apart can bring good results. 

The research team believes that the vaccine is suitable for emergency use during the epidemic; and when the risk of virus transmission is not so high, the vaccine may be able to induce stronger and longer immune response if the vaccination method is adjusted to two doses one month apart.

The paper also mentioned that, taking account of the safety, immunogenicity and production capacity of the vaccine, it is recommended to use three micrograms of CoronaVac in the phase III clinical trial for immune effect evaluation. Currently, the vaccine is undergoing Phase III clinical trials at that dosage.

Sinovac Biotech Co is a high-tech biological enterprise headquartered in Zhongguancun, Beijing. It is currently listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (NasdaqGS: SVA).

With the mission of "providing vaccines for humans to eliminate diseases", Sinovac is committed to the research, development, production and sale of human vaccines and related products and provides services for disease prevention and control. 

The company's listed products include a new class I preventive biological drug--- Enterovirus 71 inactivated vaccine (Inlive®); China's first inactivated hepatitis A vaccine, which has passed the WHO pre-certification (Healive®); the split influenza virus vaccine (Anflu®); a live attenuated varicella vaccine; a combined inactivated hepatitis A and B vaccine (Bilive®) and live attenuated mumps vaccine.

In addition, the company has developed the world's first SARS coronavirus inactivated vaccine (completed phase I clinical), China's first pandemic influenza (H5N1) vaccine (Panflu®), and the world's first type A H1N1 Influenza vaccine (PANFLU.1®).

A biological high-tech enterprise solely funded by Hong Kong Sinovac, Beijing Sinovac was founded in 2009 with a registered capital of US $9.6 million. 

Relying on the group's advantages in vaccine R&D and industrialization over the years, the company has gradually formed an R&D model combining production, education and research, with enterprises as the main body, and has built multiple technology platforms. Besides, the professional and technical advantages of each platform are complementary and cross-penetrated.

Beijing Sinovac is currently undertaking two national major new drug creation special projects and two Beijing science and technology projects, and has obtained 12 Chinese invention patents.