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 the state-owned Sinopharm vaccine, CGTN News reported.
The Beijing-based pharmaceutical company on Wednesday announced that its two-dose inactivated vaccine has nearly 80 percent efficacy and is seeking market approval from authorities.
The shares of Sinopharm jumped by at least 7 percent after the announcement was made.
It is the first vaccine to get approval for market rollout in the country.
The vaccine was developed by the China National Biotech Group, a subsidiary of Sinopharm.
The vaccine has 79.34 percent efficacy and about 99.52 percent 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 several 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 percent efficacy. (Anadolu)
