The National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research under the Ministry of Health has requested additional reports on the protective efficacy of the homegrown candidate COVID-19 vaccine Nano Covax, requiring that they should be submitted before 3pm on December 22 for review.

The ministry announced on December 20 that on December 16, the committee convened a meeting reviewing supplementary reports on the mid-term outcomes of the phase 3 trial of Nano Covax as of November 30.

Accordingly, it concluded that Nano Covax met safety requirements based on data of the additional reports. It also met requirements on immunity production in accordance with the ministry’s professional guidelines.

However, more data on its efficacy are needed, the National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research said.

Nano Covax, a recombinant spike protein vaccine, is the forerunner in the race for domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine, followed by COVIVAC from the Institute of Vaccines and Biologic Medical and mRNA vaccine ARCT-154 (by Arcturus and VinBioCare) just starting phase 2 trials.

Developed by the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC based on recombinant DNA/protein technology, Nano Covax went through the first-phase trial from December 18, 2020 and the second phase from February 26, 2021. The third phase started on June 11, 2021.

Results from the first two trial phases showed that all volunteers developed antibodies against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Source: VNS