Sinopharm BBIBP-CorV ( COVID-19 ) is an inactivated vaccine made from virus particles that grow in culture and lack the ability to cause disease. This candidate vaccine was developed by Sinopharm’s Wuhan Biological Products Institute and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Development
Developed by the Pekingese Institute for Biological Products from inactivated viruses, it was quickly partnered by the Chinese state laboratory Sinopharm to, following the Oxford / AstraZeneca model, ensure the development of clinical trials and guarantee production.
Although the results of Phase III have not yet been published, the Chinese Government has announced on several occasions that it has achieved an efficiency of between 79.34% and 86%. Something that, for a vaccine developed with this technology in such a short time, would be excellent news. It uses a technology in which the virus is inactive so it does not produce the disease but rather creates antibodies against it.
Manufacturing
A Sinopharm facility in Beijing will be able to produce 120 million doses per year, while another facility in Wuhan will be able to produce 100 million doses per year. In an October update, Sinopharm said it could have the capacity to produce more than 1 billion doses in 2021 .
In October, G42 Healthcare of Dubai entered into manufacturing agreements with Sinopharm to supply the United Arab Emirates and other regional states with BBIBP-CorV, and the UAE with a goal of producing 75-100 million doses by 2021 .
In December, Egypt announced an agreement between Sinopharm and the Egyptian Holding Company for Biological Products & Vaccines (VACSERA) for the vaccine to be manufactured locally.