China has approved human testing of a potential coronavirus vaccine cultivated in insect cells, the local government in the southwestern city of Chengdu announced.
China is in the middle of a global race to develop a cost-effective vaccine to stop the coronavirus pandemic.
Using insect cells to develop proteins for a coronavirus vaccine - China's first - could speed up mass production, the Chengdu city government said in an announcement on social network WeChat.
The vaccine produced by the West China Hospital of Sichuan University has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration to enter the clinical trial phase, the announcement said.
Testing on monkeys showed that the vaccine prevents SARS-CoV-2 infection without visible side effects, reports Hina.
Chinese scientists are already leading research on at least eight other potential coronavirus vaccines that are in various stages of clinical trials.
Foreign companies, such as Germany's BioNTech and America's Inovio Pharma, are also collaborating with local companies to test their experimental vaccines in China.
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