CanSino to Test Coronavirus Vaccine in Argentina and Chile

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – CanSino Biologics Inc will start testing its coronavirus vaccine candidate in late-stage human trials in Argentina and Chile, the co-founder of the Chinese pharmaceutical company said on Saturday, November 21st.

The candidate Ad5-nCoV, which goes by the trade name Convidecia, uses a harmless common cold virus to carry genetic information of coronavirus’ protein to elicit immune responses, has already begun Phase III trials in Pakistan, Russia and Mexico.

CanSino will begin interim analysis of the late-stage trial results when 50 infection cases are found, said Zhu Tao, who is also the company’s chief scientific officer.

The 50-case milestone could be hit faster than previously expected judging from how the virus is spreading, Zhu told an industry event, without specifying when the analysis would start.

The expectation follows announcements this month by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech and Moderna, as well as from Russia, that their experimental vaccines are more than 90% effective, according to interim data from large trials.

China has five home-grown candidates currently undergoing Phase III trials. None have so far produced interim results.

CanSino said in June that Convidecia, which is being co-developed with a research institute affiliated to China’s military, had been approved for use in military personnel.

Many military personnel, including peacekeepers in places where COVID-19 remains, have taken the vaccine and none have been infected, CanSino chief executive Yu Xuefeng told a healthcare forum on Friday.

Yu said he “has great confidence” in the product, but cautioned that final conclusion requires scientific data.

CanSino agreed in October to supply 35 million doses of the vaccine to Mexico.

Who is CanSino Bio?

CanSino Biologics, a Chinese vaccine company was founded in 2009 in Tianjin by Yu Xuefeng, Zhu Tao, Qiu Dongxu and Helen Mao Huihua.

The company has a portfolio of vaccines under research including Ad5-EBOV to prevent Ebola and Ad5-nCoV for COVID-19. The company has previously collaborated with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) on vaccine development. The two organizations began collaborating in 2013, and they later worked together to develop an Ebola vaccine.

In early 2020, Chen Wei led a joint team of the Institute of Biotechnology, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences and CanSino Biologics to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The team registered an experimental COVID-19 vaccine for Phase I trial on 17 March 2020 to test its safety. The vaccine was tried on 108 healthy volunteers in Wuhan.

In April, Ad5-nCoV became the first COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the world to begin Phase II trials. The Phase II trial results were published in the peer-reviewed journal Lancet on 20 July 2020 and noted neutralizing antibody and T cell responses in the 508 eligible participants. In September, the amount of Covid-19 antibodies in subjects from the Phase I trials remained high six months after the first shot.

The high levels of antibodies suggested the shots may provide immunity for an extended period of time, although Phase III results were still required.

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