China Approves COVID-19 Diagnostic Kits One After Another... Rapid Progress in Vaccine Development

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Sunmi Park] As the spread of COVID-19 continues in China, Chinese health authorities are accelerating the approval of diagnostic reagents and the development of vaccines to quickly identify and treat confirmed cases.

According to the Global Times on the 24th, Zhong Nanshan, the top authority on respiratory diseases in China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, stated that government authorities are speeding up the approval of diagnostic reagents that can confirm COVID-19 infections.

Zhong said, "The National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China has approved several effective reagents for diagnosing COVID-19 infections," adding, "Among the approved reagents is a special reagent developed by CapitalBio, a pharmaceutical company based in Beijing, which can distinguish between COVID-19 and common influenza infections." He further explained, "This reagent that differentiates COVID-19 from common influenza will be valuable not only in China but also in the United States, where there are many flu patients."

He also mentioned, "A diagnostic kit that detects Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, which appear seven days after COVID-19 infection or within three days of symptom onset, has also been approved by authorities," adding, "This diagnostic kit will be very useful in Hubei Province, the origin of COVID-19."

In China, not only the approval of COVID-19 diagnostic kits but also vaccine development is accelerating. The day before, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology announced that a genetically recombinant adenovirus vaccine recently entered the animal testing phase. Authorities stated, "Developing a COVID-19 vaccine takes a long time. Research must be conducted carefully and safely," but also explained that China's vaccine development technology has made significant progress as some high-level development teams have overcome obstacles.

China is pursuing vaccine development through various routes, including joint research and development with overseas universities and pharmaceutical companies. Xu Nanping, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, expects that clinical trial applications for a COVID-19 vaccine could be possible as early as late April.

Earlier, China Daily reported that Favipiravir, an antiviral drug developed by Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical, received product approval from the National Medical Products Administration for COVID-19 treatment and began mass production on the 16th. Favipiravir is known as the first COVID-19 treatment drug to be approved and enter mass production in China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.