HONG KONG/BEIJING: China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) said on Wednesday

The data from large-scale, late-stage clinical trials for its unit’s COVID-19 vaccine are “better than expected”.

Sinopharm’s unit China National Biotec Group (CNBG) has moved two vaccine applicants into Phase 3 clinical trials outside China in multiple countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt involving more 50,000 members in total.

The trials are nearing their ends, Sinopharm said in a statement on Chinese social media WeChat.

It did not offer details on the better-than-expected data, or specify which vaccine candidate the data are generated from.

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Earlier this month, Bahrain had granted emergency approval for the use of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate on frontline workers.

The UAE in September authorised similar emergency use of the same vaccine for frontline workers at high risk of infection with the new coronavirus.