(Yicai Global) Nov. 4 -- China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings has won US Food and Drug Administration approval for the Investigational New Drug application for CORVax12, a deoxyribonucleic acid-encodable vaccine to treat Covid-19, and will begin researcher-initiated phase I clinical trials, the company announced last night, thus boosting its stock in morning trading today.

The Hong Kong-based firm's shares [HKG:0512] had climbed 4.36 percent to HKD6.46 (62 US cents) by late morning in consequence.

The Covid-19 vaccine, co-developed by the company's associated OncoSec Medical, a tumor immunity field and DNA technology research and development platform in New Jersey, and Portland, Oregon-based Providence Cancer Institute, is thus far the only DNA vaccine that uses an immunostimulant to promote an immune response to novel coronavirus.

According to the clinical trial proposal, Providence Cancer Institute will conduct a Phase I, open-label study of CORVax12 to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a plasmid encoding the “S” glycoprotein alone or in combination with IL-12 in treating Covid-19.

The statement added that the licensing agreement entered into in October 2019 between Grand Decade Developments, a wholly-owned company unit, and OncoSec, gives the firm the exclusive commercialization rights to all of OncoSec’s pipeline projects in China and 38 other Asian countries and regions. It will start the commercialization of these projects in the domestic market in a timely manner based on the progress of clinical trials.

Editor: Ben Armour