Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) is planning to develop its next-generation COVID-19 vaccine by using a sequence of the Beta variant of SARS-CoV-2, which was first detected in South Africa, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The company’s animal tests showed that a booster shot built on the Beta variant prompted immunity in hamsters against all variants of the virus, it said.
Medigen is seeking to conduct human trials for the vaccine in Taiwan, but it would not necessarily need to conduct phase 1 clinical trials, the earliest stage involving human testing, company spokesman Leo Lee (李思賢) told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday.
Photo: Billy H.C. Kwok, Bloomberg
The drugmaker would consult with the local drug regulator regarding the protocol for the next round of clinical trials, Lee said.
Medigen in May conducted research on whether a third dose of its current vaccine would bolster immunity against the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, the company said.
It administered the doses to 45 participants six months after they received the first two shots, the firm said.
In separate trials on hamsters, the drugmaker tested their immune response to other major variants after receiving three doses, it said.
Medigen said it split the research into five sub-trials: In the first, it gave hamsters two shots developed on the original virus; in the second, it gave them two shots developed on the Beta variant; in the third, it gave “bivalent” vaccines containing both strains; in the fourth, it gave three shots developed on the original virus; and in the fifth, it gave two shots developed on the original virus and an additional shot developed on the Beta variant.
Hamsters in all five groups developed antibodies, while those given a third shot, whether based on the original virus or the Beta variant, had higher antibody levels than those that received only two shots, the company said.
Hamsters that were given two shots developed on the original virus and a third shot based on the Beta variant developed the highest antibody levels, regardless of whether they were infected with the Alpha, Beta, Gamma or Delta variants, the company said.
Viral loads in the lungs and nasal cavities of the hamsters of that group reduced significantly eight weeks after receiving the third shot, it added.
Medigen shares gained 1.65 percent to NT$278 in Taipei trading on Friday.
The stock price has risen 169.9 percent so far this year, Taipei Exchange data showed.
China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the first quarter of next year, even as it struggles to make enough chips due to US restrictions, two people familiar with the matter said. The telecoms conglomerate has sent samples of the Ascend 910C — its newest chip, meant to rival those made by US chipmaker Nvidia Corp — to some technology firms and started taking orders, the sources told Reuters. The 910C is being made by top Chinese contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) on its N+2 process, but a lack
NVIDIA PLATFORM: Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and a Taiwan site is to enter production next month, Nvidia wrote on its blog Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s biggest electronics manufacturer, yesterday said it is expanding production capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) servers based on Nvidia Corp’s Blackwell chips in Taiwan, the US and Mexico to cope with rising demand. Hon Hai’s new AI-enabled factories are to use Nvidia’s Omnivores platform to create 3D digital twins to plan and simulate automated production lines at a factory in Hsinchu, the company said in a statement. Nvidia’s Omnivores platform is for developing industrial AI simulation applications and helps bring facilities online faster. Hon Hai’s Mexican facility is to begin production early next year and the
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
AVIATION BOOM: CAL is to renew its passenger and cargo fleets starting next year on record profits as aviation continues to return to pre-pandemic levels China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) yesterday said it is optimistic about next year’s business outlook, as the airline continues to renew its fleet on expectations that global passenger traffic would maintain steady growth and air cargo demand would remain strong. From next year to 2028, the airline is to welcome a new Boeing Co 787 fleet — 18 787-9 and six 787-10 passenger aircraft — to cover regional and medium to long-haul destinations, CAL chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) said at an investors’ conference in Taipei. The airline would also continue to introduce Airbus SE 321neo passenger planes and Boeing 777F cargo jets,
RSS