China National Biotec Group (CNBG) under the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) announced on April 27 that their new vaccine which targets Omicron variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been approved for clinical trials.
CNBG president Yang Xiaoming said at a press conference the same day that the company started development of a vaccine to target Omicron variants in December 2021 and tests already signal that the new vaccine has a good neutralizing effect.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, trials started in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province on May 1. Those above 18 years old who have not been vaccinated before can apply for the trial on a voluntary basis. CNBG said it will also launch clinical research on booster shots for adults who have already received two or three shots.
According to Health Times, several domestically developed oral medications to treat Covid-19 are already in clinical trials.
Phase III clinical trials showed that Azvudine, originally an anti-AIDS medicine developed by Genuine Biotech, is effective against both mild and severe symptoms of Covid-19.
Another medication, VV116 jointly developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Junshi Biosciences was approved for urgent clinical use in Uzbekistan in December 2021, where clinical tests showed it was able to relieve symptoms and greatly reduce the risk of developing serious symptoms or death.
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