The news comes barely a week after Merck’s molnupiravir was launched in the Chinese market amid a surge of Covid-19 infections which have been sweeping the mainland since December 2022. AP
Beijing: Pharma major Sinopharm on Friday said its biotech unit has received regulatory approval to begin clinical trials of its mRNA Covid-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron variant of the virus.
The biotech unit, which is based in the commercial hub of Shanghai, has built a research and development platform, as well as workshops with a total annual production capacity of almost 2 billion doses of the mRNA vaccine, Sinopharm said in a statement.
Sinopharm, now the China distributor of Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) Covid-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir, said its biotech unit has received clinical trial approval from the National Medical Products Administration.
Several domestic mRNA candidates are being researched in China but none of them has been approved for use by the regulator.
Sinopharm’s unit China National Biotec Group Co Ltd said it had designed an mRNA candidate targeting the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The news comes barely a week after Merck’s molnupiravir was launched in the Chinese market amid a surge of Covid-19 infections which have been sweeping the mainland since December 2022. Soon after the Chinese government relaxed its stringent zero-Covid norms in early December 2022, a wave of Covid-19 infections swept several Chinese provinces.
Merck had said Sinopharm was the only legally authorised distributor of the treatment in China, sold under the brand name Lagevrio.
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