China’s first domestic mpox vaccine approved for clinical trials

BEIJING: China delivered its first domestically developed mpox vaccine into clinical trials on Monday, Global Times reported. The vaccine, independently developed by the Shanghai Institute of Biological Products, a subsidy of the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), is based on a live, attenuated orthopoxvirus, Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA). According to the institute, the MVA strain has proved its safety and efficacy as a candidate vector for vaccination. The MVA mpox vaccine is produced using a mature cell factory production process, which is stable and reliable in quality. Preclinical studies have shown its safety and its ability to generate effective immune protection against mpox virus in non-human primate models. In August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring countries to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the WHO's highest-level alert, along with the emergence and rapid spread of a new viru s strain in DRC named clade 1b. Source: Emirates News Agency