China approves first homegrown mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

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A senior citizen receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot in Liuzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, December 24, 2022. /CFP

China's drugmaker CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited announced Wednesday that its messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for emergency use by the National Medical Products Administration, making it the country's first domestically developed mRNA shot.

The company said its independently developed mRNA vaccine targets some major Omicron variants and that its booster dose showed a good neutralization effect against Omicron subvariants BA.5, BF.7, BQ.1.1., XBB.1.5 and CH.1.1. in clinical trials.

According to the announcement, the vaccine was granted emergency clinical trial approval in April 2022 and completed Phase I, II and booster vaccination clinical studies in China with over 5,500 participants.

In a study of 4,000 participants from December 10, 2022, to January 18, 2023, when China was going through a surge in infections, the vaccine showed 85.3 percent efficacy 14 to 28 days after booster vaccination in those who received a recombinant protein vaccine as their primary shot.

CSPS said its vaccine trials showed incidents of adverse effects were substantially lower in an elderly group compared with an adult group.

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.

(With input from Reuters)