The China National Biotec Group has been given the authority to conduct a massive Phase 3 clinical test of its latest COVID-19 drug candidate in the United Arab Emirates, the group announced on Tuesday.
Due to the lack of new coronavirus patients in the mainland, the Chinese government is looking to test potential vaccines outside of its own soil. Sinopharm's inactivated vaccine has passed the first two courses of clinical tests.
The inactivated drug of Sinopharm CNBG showed no serious adverse effects during the first and second phase of tests, with 100 percent of the volunteers producing antibodies after two doses in 28 days.
Around the world, more than a dozen experimental drugs are being tested. None of them have yet successfully completed a late-stage third-phase test to determine the effectiveness in protecting healthy subjects from the disease that has already claimed the lives of more than 470,000 people globally.
The ceremony of Sinopharm's CNBG COVID-19 inactivated vaccine's international clinical Phase III test and the UAE was conducted simultaneously in Beijing and Abu Dhabi through video conference. CNBG and the UAE Group 42 inked a clinical collaboration deal. This is the first group of researchers in China to hold an overseas clinical test of the COVID-19 potential drug.
G42 will spearhead the clinical test procedures in the UAE under supervision from the Abu Dhabi Health Department. G42 is already a major player in the Emirates' efforts to contain the disease, having established a state of the art testing facility in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.
Present during the video conference ceremony, Abdulrahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said that "more than ever, countries need to work in close partnership between the government and private sectors to develop policies, drive rigorous research, and develop capacity," The National quoted the official as saying.
Also present during the video conference were Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Hamed, Abu Dhabi Health Department Chairperson, Ni Jian, Chinese envoy to UAE; Dr. Hamdan Musallam Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Emirates Red Crescent and Dr. Jamal Alkaabi, Acting Undersecretary of the Abu Dhabi Health Department.
Sinopharm CNBG and Group 42, through their joint scientific and medical partnership, aim to fast-track the development of a safe and effective medication that could be made available in the market by end of the year, or early next year to benefit nations needing to contain the dreaded disease.
With no specific vaccines to treat COVID-19, scientists around the globe are scrambling to produce a vaccine that could quell the pandemic, which has already infected over 9 million people worldwide.
