(Yicai Global) May 29 -- Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech has secured regulatory approval in China to start clinical trials of its broad-spectrum neutralizing antibody to treat Covid-19.

The National Medical Products Administration greenlit the SA55 jab, co-developed by Sinovac and Changping Laboratory, for human trials on May 24, the Beijing-based firm announced today. The nasal spray of SA55 was approved for trials as prevention last month, it added.

Research results show that SA55 can effectively neutralize various omicron variants, including XBB, XBB.1, and XBB.1.5, Sinovac noted. The broad-spectrum monoclonal antibody maintains a high neutralizing activeness against the variants, which the World Health Organization has flagged for attention, it added.

Sinovac is facilitating the clinical trials of the SA55 nasal spray and injection and can already mass produce them according to quality standards, the company pointed out.

China’s latest Covid-19 wave, led by the omicron XBB strain, will likely peak at the end of next month, Zhong Nanshan, a top Chinese expert on respiratory diseases, said on May 22. Cases are expected to peak at about 40 million a week late this month and 65 million a week in late June, he said.

Zhong also noted that two kinds of vaccines against the XBB variant have been initially approved by Chinese regulators, with three to four more to be approved soon.

Sinovac was one of China’s first Covid-19 vaccine developers. Its inactivated CoronaVac jab gained conditional marketing approval in China in February 2021. As of March, CoronaVac was approved in over 60 countries and regions, with more than 2.9 billion doses supplied, according to Sinova’s website.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione