(Yicai Global) April 26 -- Sinopharm’s stock price surged after a subsidiary of the state-owned pharmaceutical giant said it had been approved to carry out clinical trials of its inactivated vaccine against the omicron variant of Covid-19.

Shares of China National Pharmaceutical Group [SHA: 600511], as Sinopharm is officially known, surged by the exchange-imposed daily limit of 10 percent today to finish at CNY27.57 (USD4.22) each. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.4 percent.

The subsidiary, China National Biotec Group, has secured the National Medical Products Administration’s approval for human trials of the vaccine, the Beijing-based company said yesterday. The jab can produce a high level of neutralizing antibodies against omicron and other coronavirus strains, according to the results so far.

Biotec began submitting application materials on Jan. 26 and will now start clinical studies on people aged 18 and over who have been injected with two or three doses of inactivated vaccine in the Chinese mainland.

The company had already completed research and development of inactivated shots against the beta and delta strains, and studied omicron samples from the University of Hong Kong before starting work on the new jab last December.

Biotec filed clinical application materials with the Hong Kong’s health department on April 1. The firm secured approval 12 days later, making it the world’s first omicron-targeting inactivated vaccine to get the green light for human trials.

Editor: Tom Litting