China Is First to Give Go-Ahead to Test Tetravalent Norovirus Vaccine on Humans
Dou Shicong
DATE:  Jun 05 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China Is First to Give Go-Ahead to Test Tetravalent Norovirus Vaccine on Humans China Is First to Give Go-Ahead to Test Tetravalent Norovirus Vaccine on Humans

(Yicai Global) June 5 -- China has become the first nation to approve clinical  trials for a tetravalent vaccine against different strains of norovirus  in an effort to eradicate the highly contagious virus that often causes acute viral gastroenteritis.

The Institut Pasteur of Shanghai has received a permit from the National  Medical Products Administration to begin testing the vaccine on humans,  Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the institution that functions under  the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

The inoculation is expected to go through five years of tests before the  IPS may apply for a license to sell it, Tang Hong, director of the  institute, told Xinhua.

The IPS and Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical have been developing the  vaccine for four years and the drug is supposed to prevent from 80  percent to 90 percent of viral infections.

The infection rate of norovirus has spiked in China over the recent years  so it has become an urgent public health issue, a researcher said to  Xinhua. The virus infects about 685 million people worldwide each year.

Editor: Emmi Laine 

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Keywords:   Norovirus,Vaccine,Institut Pasteur of Shanghai