CanSino Biologics has announced that the National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA) granted approval for the clinical trial application of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in China.

Pre-clinical trial results showed that CanSinoBIO's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine can induce high-titer neutralizing antibody levels against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) identified by the World Health Organization (WHO), including the Omicron variant, a highly transmissible and the most dominant strain circulating in China and globally. Additionally, results showed that CanSinoBIO's mRNA vaccine can induce neutralizing antibodies with greater cross-reactivity against global VOCs and provide stronger protection against infections caused by the circulating variants, compared to the original strain-based COVID-19 vaccines.

The clinical trial application of CanSinoBIO's COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was filed by the Company and its subsidiary CanSino (Shanghai) Biotechnology (CanSino Shanghai). Established in July 2021, CanSino Shanghai is focused on developing an mRNA technology platform and further strengthening the Company's research and development (R&D) capabilities.