China begins clinical trials of two possible coronavirus vaccines

China has begun clinical trials in humans of two possible vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the covid-19 disease, the local press reported this Tuesday.

These are two inactivated vaccines, that is, consisting of microorganisms that have been killed through physical or chemical processes.

The first of the candidates, which obtained the license to proceed with clinical trials last Sunday, has been developed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (the central-eastern Chinese city where the first cases of the disease were detected) in conjunction with the branch in that same city of the Sinopharm company.

Several companies

The second is the result of the joint work of several companies, with Sinovac Research & Development at the helm. This company is a subsidiary of Sinovac Biotech, which also worked on a vaccine against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.

According to the specialized economic publication Caixin, the Sinopharm project - which has financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China - will test the vaccine on 1.396 volunteers recruited in the province of Henan (in the central-east of the Asian country) in its first two phases, which are expected to last until November 10, 2021.

In mid-March, Chinese authorities approved the start of clinical trials of another coronavirus vaccine developed by the Military Academy of Sciences.

To date, at least 3.341 people have died in China as a result of COVID-19 among the 82.249 diagnosed. Of them, 77.738 patients have been discharged after successfully overcoming the disease.