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.
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