China's Walvax to Make COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Similar to Astrazeneca's

FILE PHOTO: AstraZeneca's logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration taken November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
FILE PHOTO: AstraZeneca's logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration taken November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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China's Walvax to Make COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Similar to Astrazeneca's

FILE PHOTO: AstraZeneca's logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration taken November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
FILE PHOTO: AstraZeneca's logo is reflected in a drop on a syringe needle in this illustration taken November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

China’s Walvax Biotechnology Co has started work on a plant to manufacture an early-stage coronavirus vaccine candidate similar to AstraZeneca PLC’s product, state-backed media said on Sunday.

Mass production for the proposed vaccine could begin in mid-2021, with an estimated capacity of 200 million doses a year, said Health Times, a paper run by the People’s Daily.

The treatment is based on a chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver materials that can trigger an immune response against the virus that causes COVID-19, a technique adopted in the candidate from AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

The Chinese candidate, jointly developed by China’s Tsinghua University and Tianjin Medical University, has not been tested on humans. The AstraZeneca-Oxford treatment is in final-stage large trials.

AstraZeneca’s late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil last month found an efficacy of 62% for trial participants given two full doses but 90% for a subgroup given a half, then a full dose. A Reuters investigation this week revealed problems with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine study.

Adenovirus is used in other COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including one from China’s CanSino Biologics Inc, which is based a harmless common cold virus known as adenovirus type-5 (Ad5).

Researchers on the CanSino vaccine have said it might be weaker in people who had been exposed to Ad5 and have pre-existing immunity against the adenovirus.

The potential Walvax vaccine might avoid this problem by using a rare adenovirus from chimpanzees to which humans normally do not have pre-existing immunity, Health Times said.

Walvax has another production facility in the works for a vaccine it is jointly developing with the Academy of Military Science and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co, which is in early-stage clinical trials.

China has moved at least five vaccine candidates into late-stage clinical trials.



Defense Minister: Israel Will Strike Iran Again if Threatened

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
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Defense Minister: Israel Will Strike Iran Again if Threatened

FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa
FILED - 25 June 2024, Israel, Jerusalem: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz is pictured in Jerusalem. Photo: Hannes P Albert/dpa

Israel will strike Iran again if it is threatened by Tehran, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

"Israel's long arm will reach you in Tehran, Tabriz, Isfahan, and anywhere you try to threaten or harm Israel. There is no place where you can hide. If we must go back, we will go back and with greater force," Katz said in remarks released by his office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he does not believe Iran will pursue a nuclear program following the strikes levied by both US and Israel last month.

"They're afraid," Netanyahu told FOX Business. "They know they felt the might – the might of America, the might of Israel and the combined might of Israel and America."

"It's made an impact, not only in the Middle East, it's made an impact around the world. Everybody sees this," he added.

Netanyahu also said: "I think the Iranians understand that what the US and Israel did once, we could do twice and thrice."

The Israeli leader acknowledged that Tehran could attempt to redevelop its program and that the US and Israeli must treat the issue as a "cancer" that needs to be continually monitored.

Netanyahu also said that he doesn’t believe Iran maintains the capability to build a nuclear weapon, even if Tehran moved some highly enriched uranium from the top nuclear site, due to the damage inflicted on other elements of its atomic weapons program.

"Enriched uranium is not enough to make atomic bombs. Okay, it's a necessary component, but it's not sufficient," he said.