(Bloomberg) -- CanSino Biologics Inc.'s Russian partner expects local authorities to register the Chinese company's Covid-19 vaccine soon, potentially marking the first approval for use of the inoculation outside of China.
“All registration procedures have been completed, we expect to get the registration certificate in days,” Nikolay Dodonov, head of Petrovax Pharm's medical department, said in a phone interview.
The CanSino vaccine is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials and has been granted military approval in China, which is more limited than emergency authorization.
The company is nearing a goal of recruiting 18,000 people in a trial in Pakistan, and is close to conducting interim analysis that will offer a first glimpse at how effective the shot can be in staving off Covid-19.
Russia is among the first countries to offer universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, with President Vladimir Putin this week ordering authorities to let anyone who wants sign up for an inoculation. It currently has two domestic vaccines registered for use.
Petrovax, owned by the country's richest man, Vladimir Potanin, got permission for a local Phase 3 trial of the CanSino vaccine in August and applied to register it in November, according to Dodonov.
Petrovax completed injections of 500 volunteers in its local trial in November and has analyzed the results of 200 so far, Dodonov said. Of those assessed, 149 received the inoculation and had antibody levels four times higher than the minimum threshold for immunity, he said.
Petrovax, which is also helping conduct CanSino's international trial in Russia, plans to complete its study by May.
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