Whether Watson Bio has the actual capacity to produce mRNA New Crown vaccine has also been in question.
While China’s Kexing Biologicals suddenly postponed the results of its late-stage trials of inactivated neo-crown vaccine, Watson Biologicals, which just announced in high profile the creation of the country’s first mRNA neo-crown vaccine production line, followed up by announcing that it would establish an annual production line of 200 million doses of adenovirus vaccine in Beijing, the two neo-crown vaccines announced by Watson so far are still only in the phase I clinical and animal testing stage, which the industry says is just the tip of the iceberg of the official-led neo-crown vaccine mess in China.
The first chimpanzee adenovirus vector vaccine base in China, developed by Tsinghua University, Tianjin Medical University and Watson Biologicals, will be located in Beijing’s Daxing District and is scheduled for mass production next year, said Zhang Linqi, a professor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine who is involved in the research and development, at a press conference on Sunday (27), with an annual output of 120 to 200 million doses.
Only a week ago, Watson Bio also held a high-profile groundbreaking ceremony for the first domestic production line of mRNA New Crown vaccine in Yuxi, Yunnan Province.
The news immediately triggered a backlash in the industry. Several observers in the science community, including writer Fang Zhouzi, raised questions. It was pointed out that Watson’s mRNA has only done Phase I clinical trials so far, while the so-called adenovirus New Crown vaccine has only done animal tests so far, and the motive of forcing the launch is puzzling.
In response to an interview with our reporter, Watson’s chairman’s secretary admitted that its mRNA New Crown vaccine is currently only in Phase I clinical, with a very small scope of testing, but she denied that this approach poses a huge safety risk.
Watson Bio: In view of the vaccine this is very to have the assurance to dare to build the production line of words, now words mRNA of that is in the clinical phase. Clinical phase I it is a small range, but the chairman also said that its information is very good. We only came to this decision at this stage of Phase I, so we have to go to Phase II and Phase III. This is certainly the confidence, so the plant was built up. The country has national considerations. Anyway, the production line is last week to start the groundbreaking, is also just starting to build well.
The former executive of the Chinese Red Cross’s major disease relief program, Ren Ruihong, believes that the official push for the new mRNA crown vaccine, which has not been clinically tested, is mainly due to the poor results of the inactivated vaccine they have already launched. Under the pressure of Pfizer and Moderna’s already success, the Chinese side is eager to fight for the right to speak in any way they can. As for risk, it is not their core concern.
Given that Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine has already been approved, they (Watson) think it’s a class launch that won’t be particularly problematic,” Ren said. China’s human trials have always meant that when you become a mouse, you think you’re getting a treatment, he won’t tell you it’s called a human trial, and there’s no efficacy information, no safety information, it’s all confidential.
And according to recent financial reports, Watson is still only one of the biological companies recently involved in the new crown vaccine, before the Tibetan Pharmaceutical, Sinopharm and Kexing Biological are also high-profile announcements involved in the production of the new crown vaccine.
Kexing and Sinopharm’s inactivated New Crown vaccine, however, recently announced the postponement of the announcement of trial results due to doubts about its effectiveness as it approached the completion of its Phase III clinical trial, leaving it in an awkward position.
An official notice from Qingyang City, Gansu Province, shows that the city has restricted the first batch of the Kexing vaccine to 13 key groups, not only to those aged between 18 and 59, but also to those with 10 common chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
Evidence provided by local Chinese in the UAE also shows that the new Kexing vaccine, which is officially promoted in the UAE, is also banned for the above-mentioned people.
Liu Shui, a veteran media personality and writer, pointed out that the various official restrictions, coupled with the lack of transparency of information throughout the epidemic, led to his inability to trust such a vaccine.
Liu Shui said: “It is restricted to 18 to 59 years old. Why is it targeted at these specific ages? I instinctively feel that this vaccine is not so reliable. The second thing is that the upper and lower concealed well, official, these information about the vaccine, I instinctively do not believe these things.
After the New Guinea epidemic spread from Wuhan to the world, countries launched a fierce race for vaccine research and development. Currently, five technical routes are laid out for domestic new crown vaccine R&D, including inactivated vaccines, genetically engineered recombinant subunit vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, attenuated influenza virus vector vaccines and nucleic acid vaccines. The Chinese government has also been making high-profile claims of significant progress in vaccines since June this year, but so far, a number of vaccines pushed by Chinese officials have been questioned due to opaque data and poor protection.
(Original title: China lags behind in new crown vaccine development forcing mRNA and adenovirus vaccine lines)
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