CanSino’s Vaccine Candidate Enters Phase 3 Trial in Russia

CanSino Biologics’ experimental COVID-19 vaccine has entered a late-stage trial in Russia, the company leading the study announced yesterday.

Moscow-based biopharmaceutical company Petrovax announced that Russia’s health ministry has approved a phase 3 trial of Ad5-nCoV, the vaccine candidate developed by CanSino and the Chinese military. Enrollment for the trial will begin this month, Petrovax said.

Ad5-nCoV has shown promise in early phase trials, generating antibodies and positive immune responses in trial participants. Last month, CanSino released data from its phase 2 trial that showed immune responses in more than 90 percent of participants after a single dose (DID, July 21).

The Chinese biotech is also preparing to launch phase 3 trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in other countries, including Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian study will include at least 5,000 healthy patients over the age of 18 (DID, Aug. 11).

Yesterday, CanSino was granted the Chinese government’s first patent for a COVID-19 vaccine, according to China’s state-run newspaper, the People’s Daily. — James Miessler