Coronavirus: China approves two experimental vaccines to enter human trials

World Health Organisation says at least 20 different Covid-19 vaccines being worked on across globe

Pharmaceutical groups in Britain and China have taken crucial steps forward in the development of vaccines and treatments for coronavirus.

While China approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines on Tuesday, according to state media Xinhua, British firm AstraZeneca confirmed plans to launch a global clinical trial testing one of its drugs for treatment.

The Chinese vaccine candidates are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group.

In March, authorities gave the green light for another clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by the country’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and HK-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio.

That followed the announcement that US drug developer Moderna had begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health.

In Britain, AstraZeneca said it was rushing through testing for Calquence – which is currently used to treat some blood cancers – after encouraging early clinical results suggested that suppressing the inflammation caused by the immune response could reduce the respiratory harm caused by coronavirus.

This could cut deaths from Covid-19 and the need for ventilation in patients with life-threatening symptoms of the virus, Astra said.

It marks the group’s fastest ever trial launch, which is expected to open in the coming days across the US and several countries in Europe.

Jose Baselga, executive vice-president of oncology research and development at Astra, said: “With this trial we are responding to the novel insights of the scientific community and hope to demonstrate that adding Calquence to best supportive care reduces the need to place patients on ventilators and improves their chances of survival.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that there are at least 20 different Covid-19 vaccines in development, including a handful at the clinical trial stage.

GlaxoSmithKline is working with China-based Clover Biopharmaceuticals on an experimental vaccine, while the US government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is collaborating with Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson on candidates.

Last week, researchers from Oxford University said that a vaccine for Covid-19 could be ready as soon as September.

Sarah Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology, said she was “80 per cent” confident the vaccine being developed by her team will work.

With human trials set to place within the next fortnight, Professor Gilbert told The Times: “I think there’s a high chance that it will work based on other things that we have done with this type of vaccine.

“It’s not just a hunch and as every week goes by we have more data to look at. I would go for 80 per cent, that’s my personal view.”

She added that having a vaccine ready by the autumn is “just about possible if everything goes perfectly”, but warned that “nobody can promise it’s going to work”.

Most experts have said a coronavirus vaccine could take up to 18 months to be developed and distributed globally, but Professor Gilbert wants to accelerate the clinical trial process by letting volunteers become infected naturally as soon as possible.

She said volunteers from places that have no imposed lockdown measures would produce more efficient results.

The WHO said on Monday that a safe and effective vaccine would be needed to fully halt the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 114,000 people worldwide.

“Our global connectedness means the risk of re-introduction and resurgence of Covid-19 will continue,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual press briefing, stressing that “ultimately, the development and delivery of a safe and effective vaccine will be needed to fully interrupt transmission.”

Additional reporting by agencies