(Yicai Global) Nov. 11 -- Fosun Pharmaceutical Group cautioned that the approval and market debut in China of its German partner’s promising coronavirus vaccine remain uncertain.

At the start of this week, Pfizer announced to an elated world that the experimental BNT162b2 vaccine the US-based company developed with BioNTech, Fosun Pharma’s partner, is more than 90 percent effective. The Chinese firm’s stock price has surged since the announcement along with that of Pfizer and BioNTech.

But shares of the Shanghai-based company, which will distribute the shots in China, swung between big gains and losses today as investors digested its cautionary statement. The stock [SHA: 600196] closed little changed at CNY56.80.

The vaccine needs to be stored at extremely low temperatures. Fosun Pharma is building a cold storage facility capable of minus 70 degrees celsius, Chairman Wu Yifang told investors on a teleconference yesterday. The shot from abroad will go into the deep freeze on arrival in China, and the firm’s partner Sinopharm Group will oversee its cold chain transport, he added.

Vaccination sites will have medical-grade low-temperature freezers, Wu also said, adding that the vaccine can be stored for five days at 2 to 8 degrees celsius when awaiting use.

Fosun Pharma’s deal with BioNTech covers all four vaccine candidates the Mainz-based biotechnology firm presented for clinical trials. China’s drug regulator approved the BNT162b1 vaccine for clinical tests in July, and Phase I subjects have undergone inoculation, with statistical analysis ongoing. Other candidates, including BNT162b2, have yet to start trials in the country.

Pfizer’s data is “midterm data in Phase III clinical tests and does not answer whether BNT162b2 can prevent asymptomatic carriers and reduce the number of patients with severe symptoms,” said a public health expert.

“Whether BNT162b2 can prevent severe coronavirus is one of the primary and secondary endpoints of the clinical study and it is likely to take longer follow-up of the vaccinated subjects to obtain the data,” the health specialist added.

The Phase III data, including statistics on the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety, will be available in the next few weeks. “The vaccine’s safety and effectiveness must be verified,” said a researcher in immunization. “Human bodies may have an inflammatory response to mRNA vaccines, and local inflammation can be severe, above all after the second dose, causing lumps, ulcers and other adverse reactions. This is because of the characteristics of mRNA.”

Editor: Ben Armour