CanSinoBIO’s Convidecia approved as heterologous COVID-19 booster in China

CanSino Biologics announced that its recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine has been approved by the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council of China, as a heterologous booster, making it the first adenovirus-vectored vaccine to be included in the heterologous vaccination programme in China.  

For those aged 18 and above who have completed a six-month vaccination schedule using inactivated COVID-19 vaccines, and those who have not been administered a homologous booster, receiving Convidecia can significantly increase the neutralising antibody levels with a proven safety profile.

Heterologous boosters are vaccine boosters from different technology platforms from the prime vaccines, which have the potential to improve the overall immune response and enhance protection against other variants.

According to recent clinical trial results from a study on heterologous vaccination, conducted by the Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that, after two-dose priming with an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, a single dose of Convidecia as a heterologous booster could induce neutralising antibody levels 14 days post vaccination. This can be up to five times higher than a homologous booster of inactivated vaccine, with neutralising antibody levels at 33.6.

Administering Convidecia as a booster can also induce a significant CD8+T cellular immune response, which could rapidly kill virus-infected cells, and reduce the chance of severe illness and death, providing both humoural and cellular immunity.

Convidecia is currently approved in more than ten countries, including China, Pakistan, and Mexico.

Lina Adams