On Aug. 5, 2020, BioNTech and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical announced that the first 72 participants had been dosed with BNT162b1 following IND approval by the Chinese regulatory authority, National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). BioNTech and Fosun Pharma are jointly developing the COVID-19 vaccine candidate in China. The trial is part of BioNTechﾒs global development program aimed at supporting a global supply upon regulatory approval.

The randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded Phase 1 clinical trial in China will enroll 144 healthy subjects to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine as well as to confirm dose selection. The first group of subjects immunized in Stage 1 of the study will be healthy adults
aged 18 to 55 years, followed by elderly healthy participants (>55 years). As part of the two-dose cohort design, subjects will receive two injections (prime-boost), 21 days apart, of 10μg or 30μg of the vaccine candidate or placebo. The dose range selection was determined based on early data from clinical trials conducted in Germany and the United States. The participants will be dosed in Taizhou Clinical Phase1 Center, Jiangsu province.

The study is designed to support the regulatory approval process for the Chinese market and intends to confirm that the safety and immunogenicity profile observed in participants from the German and US trials is comparable to that of Chinese participants. The ongoing clinical studies conducted in Germany and the United States will continue to support studies in China.