Tianjin CanSino Biologics (HK: 6185; SHA: 688185) will start a clinical trial of an inhaled COVID-19 vaccine in China. CanSino worked with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology to develop the product. Besides the easier delivery method, Xuefeng Yu, chairman and CEO of CanSino suggested it might be effective in infected individuals. Because the virus often enters a body via the airway, anyone already infected would already have a layer of antibody, or T memory cells, which could be quickly activated, he said.

The company's Ad5-nCoV vaccine, which is delivered by an adenovirus Type 5 vector, is already approved for China use. China regulators gave CanSino the go-ahead to start the trial of the inhaled vaccine last month.

In part, CanSino developed the vaccine based on work it had done previously on an inhaled tuberculosis vaccine along with its approved inoculated COVID vaccine.

"We think [inhaled] immunization is very effective for airborne diseases,” Dr. Yu said in an interview on CNBC at China’s Boao Forum.

Another China inhaled COVID-19 vaccine has already concluded a China Phase I/II trial. The vaccine was developed by Hong Kong University, Xiamen University, and Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise.

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Disclosure: ChinaBio has a relationship to CanSino.