ANSO Facilitates the CAS-Developed Recombinant Protein COVID-19 Vaccine to be on the Market in Uzbekistan

04 03, 2021

“I thank you, all ANSO and Zhifei leaders and the team for all your support and bridging this collaboration!!! We come up to this level because of great teamwork and friendship. I believe that this is the beginning and the best yet to come!”

--- Mr. Ibrokhim Abdurakhmonov, the Minister of Innovation and Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan

On March 2nd, the Ministry of Innovative Development of Uzbekistan has certified a COVID-19 vaccine (registered as “ZF-UZ-VAC2001”) developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and produced by China's Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Uzbekistan has registered it for emergency use and marketing authorization.

ANSO has played a crucial bridging role in this process. From August of 2020, ANSO Secretariat has promoted and organized over 20 online workshops on implementing the Phase III Clinical Trial by working together with scientists, pharmacists and government officials from CAS, Zhifei Longcom as well as their counterparts from Uzbekistan, Chile, Philippines, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Sir-Lanka, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and so forth.

Thanks to strong support from the Ministry of Innovation and Development of Uzbekistan, the Phase III Clinical Trial of the said vaccine was started in December 2020. The results for over 7000 subjects showed good safety and high efficacy (scientific outcomes to be published soon), which led to the registration for emergency use and marketing authorization.

In addition, ANSO also coordinated with Pakistan Academy of Sciences to promote the trial cooperation in Pakistan which will be carried out in the near future.

We owe our gratitude to the officials, scientists and numerous individuals in Uzbekistan for their great efforts in the matter. Paving the way for a post-pandemic world, ANSO is keen to involve more actively in tackling global challenges through joint actions on science, technology, innovation and capacity building. We look forward to working with more members, partners and countries to overcome the current pandemic.