Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd. shares were last trading at HK$19.20 ($2.48) Friday in Hong Kong after it said it had filed for regulatory approval with China's pharmaceutical industry regulator for one or both of its COVID-19 treatments.
The shares are down 3.3% from their Friday opening price of HK$19.86 each. They had closed Thursday at HK$19.76 each from an opening price of HK$20.10 each - down 1.7%.
Sinopharm's treatments will be the first commercially available if they receive National Medical Products Administration approval.
Its two candidates were developed by subsidiary China National Biotec Group Co. They already have emergency use approval from the National Health Commission in July. They have been given to medical workers and other individuals at high risk of infection.
The treatments use an inactivated virus unable to replicate in human cells to trigger immune responses. Recipients require two doses.
Interim results from phase one and phase two trials showed the vaccines produced an immune response while recipients had few adverse effects.
The two candidates are being tested in 10 countries in South America and the Middle East. There is no phase three trial data yet.
Company chairperson Liu Jingzhen said both vaccines were among three used in mass inoculations of up to 1 million China citizens since July. The third vaccine called CoronaVac was developed by Sinovac Biotech.
Liu said there had been no serious adverse reactions to the vaccines and a few cases only with "some mild symptoms."
He said the vaccines are highly protective. Of the 56,000 that have been inoculated none had developed COVIOD-19.
Liu said Sinopharm had recruited nearly 60,000 people for its phase three clinical trials being undertaken overseas. Blood samples of more than 40,000 participants were taken 14 days after they took the second dose Liu said.
In September, Sinopharm said it had inoculated more than 350,000 people outside of its clinical trials. Two weeks ago, Sinopharm said its phase three trial was "in the sprint stage." It said all related data "beat expectations."
