(Yicai Global) May 13 -- Chinese biopharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics is working with the National Research Council of Canada, the country’s largest federal research and development organization, to jointly promote clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine in the North American nation, the company said in a statement today.

This recombinant adenoviral vector immunization treatment called Ad5-nCoV was jointly developed by Tianjin-based CanSino and China’s Institute of Biotechnology of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences. It has now undergone clinical phase I and II trials in China. The next step is phase III trials in a country with a higher incidence of the disease and good clinical research capabilities, the statement said.

CanSino’s shares [HK:6185] traded up 3.45 percent in mid-afternoon at HKD173.80 (USD22.42) after vaulting to HKD177.70 this morning on the news to a new high since the firm’s listing in March last year. It now has a HKD38.7 billion (USD5 billion) market cap.

If clinical trials go well, the inoculant will be sent to the Public Health Agency of Canada for approval for emergency use and may be available as soon as this fall, Toronto’s The Globe and Mail newspaper also reported yesterday.

The Ad5-nCoV vaccine is China's first Covid-19 targeting one to enter clinical trials, state broadcaster CCTV News previously reported. The country is currently advancing along five different anti-Covid-19 research and development routes. In addition to adenovirus vector shots, two inactivated vaccines also started clinical trials last month.

An inactivated or ‘killed’ vaccine is one consisting of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens grown in a culture to lose their disease-inducing ability, in contrast to regular inoculants that contain still-living pathogens to instill resistance.

Editor: Ben Armour