Lab Monkeys in Short Supply In China Labs

As Chinese labs races to create a coronavirus vaccine, researchers work weekends but said lab monkeys are in short supply and plans are being made for human trials abroad.

Yisheng Biopharma, a company based in the northeastern city of Shenyang, has been working non-stop since January to find the silver bullet against the disease that emerged in China late last year.

A resurgence of cases in Beijing — after China had largely brought the virus under control — has highlighted the urgency for the world to find a vaccine against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 450,000 people around the world.

Yisheng is better known for making rabies vaccines, but it has converted one of its nine workshops into a coronavirus inoculation production line and will recruit up to 50 extra workers.

The company is still in the early stages of development. But it will take the risk of starting production of its vaccine in September, before completing clinical trials, so the shots are ready sooner for the public if the product is approved.

“This vaccine must appear quickly, and it is impossible to wait until the next epidemic season to complete the trial and the third epidemic season to use the vaccine,” Yisheng chairman Zhang Yi told AFP.

Zhang said his researchers had not had any rest on weekends since they got the gene sequence of the coronavirus, on the second day of Chinese New Year in late January.

“There is too much work to do,” he said. – Pricey monkeys – The company’s planned vaccine is at the animal testing stage, which precedes human clinical trials.

Zhang said tests on mice and rabbits had shown good results, giving the animals high levels of neutralizing antibodies.

The vaccine is expected to not only protect the healthy against infection, but also heal patients with COVID-19, according to the company.

“It’s more expensive than other vaccine products,” Shao said, adding that there was a shortage of resources and research material.

“We are really racing for time.” The company plans to spend another $180 million for the clinical trials following the animal tests.

“We can have as many as 10 production lines and produce 500 million doses a year,” Zhang said. With too few infections now in China to test the vaccine on humans, Yisheng plans to apply for clinical trials in the United States, Europe, Singapore, and Australia in collaboration with a US company.

Ten clinical trials are taking place around the world, half of them in China. Zhang said competitors were likely to beat his company in the race to produce the first vaccine, but that was not his priority.

“It’s about who can produce the quantity. Who can get good results and make a high quality and effective product, he said.

“This is what really counts. Being first doesn’t mean anything.”

Ayyoluwa Joshua