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TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan has rejected a request for emergency use of UBI Pharma’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the government said on Monday, though the president said she would get a separate national photo as a sign of program support.
Although Taiwan has ordered millions of Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, developing a local vaccine has been a major goal and it is expected to begin administering its first national vaccine next week, manufactured by Medigen Vaccine Biologics.
The Health Ministry, explaining the rejection of the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) application, said the antibodies raised by the UBI candidate did not match those in the AstraZeneca vaccine.
However, the ministry said, UBI was planning Phase III trials in India.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung regretted that the EUA was not granted. “We always have to meet certain standards,” he told reporters.
UBI, whose share price closed 30% lower on Monday following the rejection, said in a statement to the exchange it saw limited financial impact from the move and would reassess “the benefit assessment “of the phase three clinical trial. . He did not specify.
In June, the company said it would seek EUA in Taiwan and that Phase II testing showed no major adverse effects for its candidate, which it said generated a good immune response.
The government has drawn criticism from opposition parties after President Tsai Ing-wen initially pledged to start administering vaccines developed in the country in July, ahead of the publication of the results of the second clinical trials.
Later, Tsai said Taiwan would strictly review the process according to global scientific standards and put safety first.
Writing on her Facebook page, Tsai said she would receive her first injection of Medigen’s vaccine next Monday.
About 40% of Taiwan’s 23.5 million people received at least one of the two doses required by the vaccination schedule.
Unlike other parts of Asia, Taiwan is not under tremendous pressure to speed up its vaccination campaign, as it only records a handful of household infections per day.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne & Simon Cameron-Moore)
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