Riyaz ul Khaliq
31 December 2020•Update: 31 December 2020
ANKARA
China on Thursday announced it has approved the first vaccine for market use in the country.
The country’s Medical Products Administration officially granted “conditional marketing authorization” for state-owned Sinopharm vaccine, CGTN News reported.
The Beijing-based pharmaceutical company on Wednesday announced that its two-dose inactivated vaccine has nearly 80% efficacy and is seeking market approval from authorities.
The shares of Sinopharm jumped by at least 7% after the announcement was made.
It is the first vaccine to get approval for market rollout in the country.
The vaccine was developed by China National Biotech Group, a subsidiary of the state-owned Sinopharm.
The vaccine has 79.34% efficacy and around 99.52% antibody positive conversion rate, the Beijing Biological Products Institute had said in a statement.
It added that interim results of Phase 3 clinical trials, which are underway in a number of countries, on its inactivated vaccine showed that “the vaccine can trigger high-titer coronavirus antibodies after two injections.”
Earlier this month, the UAE officially approved Sinopharm's experimental vaccine, saying it has 86% efficacy.
