China’s CanSino Biologics Inc, a Chinese vaccine company, on Tuesday won approval to launch a clinical trial of its inhaled version of its COVID-19 vaccine called Convidecia, Reuters reported. Details regarding the trial have not yet been released.
The inhaled vaccine trial was approved by the National Medical Products Administration. Some experts have floated the idea that the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines should include needle-free options to remove any hesitancy among groups sensitive to needles.
The latest news comes after CanSinoBIO and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology on Monday won emergency use approval in Hungary for its injectable vaccine. The latest emergency use authorization comes after the vaccine was also approved in Pakistan and Mexico.
"We are pleased to see the authorization by the Hungarian authority for our vaccine, which marks an important step forward in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Xuefeng Yu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CanSinoBIO, said in a press release. “As CanSinoBIO continues to receive approvals from various governments across different continents, we are focusing on ramping up production capacity to deliver our one-shot vaccines quickly and safely to countries that are in desperate need of mass protection from this pandemic".
The Chinese company has already signed a purchase agreement with Mexico to supply the country with 35 million doses. CanSinoBIO is also currently discussing future vaccine delivery and distribution with authorities in Pakistan, Malaysia and Hungary.
The Convidecia single-dose vaccine is made from adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine technology and can be safely stored between 2 degrees Celsius and 8 degrees Celsius.
In Phase III clinical trials, the vaccine was shown to have a 65.7% efficacy in preventing moderate COVID-19 symptoms and 91% efficacy in preventing severe disease.