China’s First Granted Patent for Covid-19 Vaccine
China, the country where the novel coronavirus has first emerged, have announced the grant of the first invention patent to a locally developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate. As of today, there are currently around 22 million reported confirmed cases of Covid-19 while the pandemic has claimed the lives of 778 thousand patients across 188 countries around the world.
The patent clarified 14 claims for Intellectual Property Rights over the vaccine, including its nucleotide sequence, application purposes, preparation forms and manufacturing methods according to the inventors of the vaccine.
Results of phase I and phase II clinical trials were revealed in late July 2020, showing a good safety profile and high levels of immune response. The trials included 320 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 59.
Phase III clinical trials will begin in Mexico and Saudi Arabia, recruiting thousands of Covid-19 patients, while negotiations continue to extend the trial to include Russia, Brazil and Chile as well.
The vaccine is made up of a harmless cold virus known as adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) to deliver genetic material from the coronavirus into the body. It was developed in collaboration with China’s military research unit.
Vaccines give broad parts of the population some level of immunity and are considered crucial to ending the pandemic. They also take longer to develop, in part because they must be proven to be extremely safe since they are given to healthy people. While some companies and researchers say a vaccine could be ready for emergency use by the end of the year, others say it could take far longer.
The race for the creation of a Covid-19 vaccine continues with many major multinational pharmaceutical companies aiming to stop the novel pandemic.