China approves its first mRNA vaccine, from domestic drugmaker CSPC

China's CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited said on Wednesday its messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine has received emergency use authorisation from Chinese health authorities, making it the country's first domestically developed mRNA shot. China has declined to use mRNA vaccines from abroad and vaccines available in China are widely considered less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots.

China's CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited said on Wednesday its messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine has received emergency use authorisation from Chinese health authorities, making it the country's first domestically developed mRNA shot.

China has declined to use mRNA vaccines from abroad and vaccines available in China are widely considered less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots. The approval comes as COVID cases decline across the country after a recent surge.

CSPS said its vaccine trials showed incidents of adverse effects were substantially lower in an elderly group compared with an adult group, which could be a boon for China as it has stressed the need to focus on vaccinating and boosting its vulnerable elderly population. The company said its independently developed mRNA vaccine SYS6006 targets some major Omicron variants and its booster dose showed good neutralization effect against Omicron subvariants BA.5, BF.7, BQ.1.1., XBB.1.5 and CH.1.1. in clinical trials.

In a study of 4,000 participants from Dec. 10 to Jan. 18 when China was going through a surge in infections, the vaccine showed efficacy of 85.3% 14 to 28 days after booster vaccination in those who received a recombinant protein vaccine as their primary shot. CSPC did not say how many doses it plans to produce. It said the vaccine could be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius for a long time.

"The group will... predict the mutation trend of future trains, promote the development of new generations of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines against mutated strains, and actively promote the development progress of other products on the platform," it said in a statement. The firm got emergency approval to conduct clinical trials of the mRNA shot in April last year, at about the same time as CanSino, another China-based company that is testing an mRNA Omicron booster shot.

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