Petrovax to Test CanSino Vaccine on 625 Volunteers, Expects Early Results in Late Fall

MOSCOW, September 3- Russian pharmaceutical company Petrovax will recruit 625 volunteers for phase 3 clinical trials of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CanSino Biologics Ad5-nCoV, in Russia and expects to have the preliminary results in late fall, the company’s press service told Sputnik. “Petrovax plans to recruit 625 volunteers in 8 healthcare…

MOSCOW, September 3 (Sputnik) – Russian pharmaceutical company Petrovax will recruit 625 volunteers for phase 3 clinical trials of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CanSino Biologics Ad5-nCoV, in Russia and expects to have the preliminary results in late fall, the company’s press service told Sputnik.

The Russian company first shared with Sputnik its plans to carry out late-stage clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine candidate, Ad5-nCoV, in mid-August.

“Petrovax plans to recruit 625 volunteers in 8 healthcare facilities in Russia. The company expects that volunteers will receive the vaccine by the end of September. A month later, we will begin to process and evaluate data regarding the vaccine’s safety and immunogenicity. We expect to have preliminary results of this research in late fall. We will continue to monitor volunteers for six months,” the press service said in an email.

Once the vaccine is registered in Russia, Petrovax will be able to produce it at its facilities in the Moscow Region. The firm plans to market the vaccine domestically and within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

“We will plan production depending on the demand in the domestic and foreign markets. Priority will be given to the needs of the Russian healthcare system,” the press service added.

Ad5-nCOV was the first vaccine to undergo clinical trials on humans in China back in March and phases 1 and 2 were conducted domestically. According to the Global Times, the vaccine’s phase 3 clinical trials are expected to include some 40,000 volunteers. Pakistan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are also reportedly in talks with China’s CanSino Biologics on hosting the vaccine clinical trials.