China’s biopharmaceutical company, CanSino Biologics Inc. has announced that its Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) candidate (Ad5-nCoV), co- developed with Beijing Institute of Biotechnology (BIB), has been approved to enter into Phase 1 Clinical Trial. It is claimed to be the first novel coronavirus vaccine for COVID-19 that made to this stage in China.

“Thanks to our collaborators and our diligent team, who worked almost round-the-clock since late January to develop this vaccine candidate with sound scientific data to support IND filing,” said Xuefeng Yu, Chairman and CEO of CanSinoBIO. He also reiterated that CanSinoBIO is determined to launch the vaccine product candidate as soon as possible with no compromise on quality and safety.

The vaccine candidate is built upon CanSinoBIO’s adenovirus- based viral vector vaccine technology platform, which has also been successfully applied to develop the globally innovative vaccine against Ebola virus infection.

Results from preclinical animal studies of “Ad5-nCoV” show that the vaccine candidate can induce strong immune response in animal models. The preclinical animal safety studies demonstrated a good safety profile.

It is claimed to be the first novel coronavirus vaccine for COVID-19 that made to this stage in China.