China drugmaker begins trial production of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

SHENZHEN -- A Shenzhen-based drugmaker on Tuesday began trial production of a COVID-19 vaccine from multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. Ltd. announced that it has built a production workshop for the adenovirus vector vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, which won the approval for emergency use in the United Kingdom on Dec. 30.

The facility, with a floor area of 2,200 square meters, has an annual production capacity of 400 million doses.

The Shenzhen drugmaker signed a deal with AstraZeneca in August 2020 to introduce the latter's COVID-19 vaccine into China for which it is seeking clinical registration.

The company itself developed an inactivated coronavirus vaccine and is planning to launch phase 3 trials.