CanSino recently announced plans to establish a vaccine production and distribution center in Mexico in collaboration with Drugmex, an eight-year-old pharmaceutical firm operating in the state of Querétaro.
The company will invest around $US40 million in the plant, allowing it to produce up to 90 million doses of the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine each year. Company representatives said the plant will manufacture CanSino’s one-shot injected vaccine, as well as its pioneering inhaled version.
In 2020, Mexico played a key role in CanSino’s Covid-19 worldwide vaccine rollout, supplying one-third of the 45,000 volunteers who participated in the vaccine’s clinical studies.
In May of this year, the World Health Organization validated the use of the CanSino vaccine (CONVIDECIA), noting that it was found to have 58 percent efficacy against symptomatic disease and 92 percent against severe Covid-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has not authorized its use.
CONVIDECIA became the 11th Covid-19 vaccine to receive approval from the WHO. The inhaled version was only given a thumbs up from Chinese health authorities last week, and is not expected to be officially endorsed by the international body any time soon.