(Yicai Global) Jan. 6 -- Shares of CanSino Biologics rose after the Chinese biotech firm said clinical trials have shown that its mRNA Covid-19 booster vaccine offers good protection against several major variants identified by the World Health Organization.

CanSino [SHA: 688185] closed up 1 percent at CNY149.71 (USD21.83) a share in Shanghai today, after earlier jumping by as much as 5.8 percent. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 6185] soared 8 percent before finishing at HKD71.70 (USD9.18), a 4.1 percent gain. 

The amount of neutralizing antibodies against omicron and its sub-variants BA.1 and BA.5 in people that received CanSino’s CS-2034 booster jab was 23 times to 29 times more than in those who had inactivated vaccines, the company said late yesterday, citing the preliminary results of phase two clinical trials. The shot also appears to be safer.

The clinical study involves 433 adults in Jiangsu province who had three doses of inactivated Covid-19 vaccine, with the last received more than six months earlier. Three of four participants were inoculated with CS-2034 and one with an inactivated vaccine, with immune response evaluations done on the seventh, 14th, and 28th day after the shot, as well as three and six months later.

The trial has not yet completed, Tianjin-based CanSino noted, without making any forecast about when the vaccine may be given marketing approval. The National Medical Products Administration approved the jab for clinical trials in April.

The NMPA has approved 13 China-made Covid-19 vaccines for conditional or emergency use, including some developed by CanSino. But none of them are mRNA vaccines.

A senior manager at CanSino said in a meeting with investors last month that its mRNA vaccine plant in Shanghai’s Lingang area with an annual capacity of 100 million doses has started trial production. The firm will use its mRNA technology development platform not only for Covid-19 vaccines but also for other original drugs, the manager added.

Editor: Futura Costaglione