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Canada-bound vaccine blocked by China’s customs was created with Canadian tech
By Charlie Pinkerton. Published on Aug 17, 2020 5:42pm
(Steve Russell/Toronto Star file photo)
The Chinese company, whose COVID-19 vaccine is being prevented from entering Canada for human trials by China’s customs agency, created its shot using medical technology licensed to it by Canada.
Three months ago, the Canadian government and CanSino Biologics agreed to start human trials for the company’s vaccine in Canada. China’s customs agency prevented the first batch of the vaccine candidate from leaving the country when it was en route to Canada. The experimental shot — among the fastest to go through the approval process — was discovered using a cell line that was licensed by Canada’s federal government.
In the 1970s, Canadian researcher Dr. Frank Graham was part of a team of scientists to develop a cell line called HEK293. A cell line is a reproducing version of the same living cell. The use of cell lines are common in both modern lab research and biotechnology and pharmaceutical production.
The line Graham helped to create contained and expressed the transforming genes of the human adenovirus: adenovirus 5, or Ad5.
The National Research Council (NRC)’s proprietary version of the cell line adopted from Graham’s original is called HEK293-SF-356 cGMP and, according to the NRC, is a strong starting point for the development of vaccines.
The NRC first licensed its cell line to CanSino in 2014. In 2017, the company used the NRC’s cell line to develop its Ebola vaccine, called Ad5-EBOV.
CanSino once again relied on the NRC’s cell line in developing its vaccine against COVID-19, which is known as Ad5-nCoV.
In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the landmark announcement that his government had reached an agreement for Ad5-nCoV to be trialled in humans in Canada.
At the time, the vaccine was being tested in Phase 2 trials in China using hundreds of participants.
READ MORE: Clinical trials of Chinese vaccine similar to Ebola immunizer in Canada to begin in weeks
When the Prime Minister announced the partnership, the NRC praised its joint effort with CanSino, calling it groundbreaking.
“By bringing their respective technologies and expertise together to fight COVID-19, CanSino Biologics and the NRC are aiming to pave the way for future clinical trials in Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Immunization Research Network at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology,” said a joint news release.
The trials, to be carried out at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, were supposed to be the first for a vaccine against COVID-19 in Canada. But shipments of the vaccine never arrived.
iPolitics reported in early July that China’s customs agency had prevented CanSino’s product from leaving for Canada.
A spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains told iPolitics last week that Ad5-nCoV is still being held up. Bains is responsible for the NRC, which is supposed to be collaborating with the company and the vaccination centre through its trials.
READ MORE: Vaccine promised for human trials in Canada held up by Chinese customs
Prof. Amir Attaran, who teaches in the faculties of law and epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, said the Trudeau government is responsible for bungling its vaccine plan.
“(The federal government) was incompetent beyond what I ever imagined would be possible,” Attaran said. “In May, there were two really similar candidates out there — one of (which) comes from Oxford and AstraZeneca — from a country that is our closest ally, practically.”
The vaccine candidates Attaran refers to — one produced by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in England, his alma mater, and another created by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston — are adenovirus-based vaccines like CanSino’s, and are similarly progressing through the medical trial process.
Out of these three adenovirus-based vaccines, Attaran said early trials suggested CanSino’s was the least promising.
He said the Prime Minister’s Office is “deeply at fault” for not giving more consideration to available information about each vaccine’s potential efficacy, specially considering that CanSino has never had a vaccine approved outside of China.
Furthermore, during a time of uneasiness between Canada and China, the PMO should have considered the possibility of a politically charged interruption in the plan.
“And the consequence of which is that, barring some tremendous transformation, Canadians are going to get vaccines months later than others,” Attaran said.
While the shipment of Ad5-nCoV has been stalled, three other vaccine candidates have been approved for clinical trials in Canada. The Canadian government has also struck deals with American vaccine producers Pfizer and Moderna to manufacture millions of doses of their in-trial vaccines against COVID-19, should they be approved.
READ MORE: Canada makes vaccine-production deals with major American suppliers
CanSino recently started Phase 3 trials in China, which involves giving it to thousands of people. If the vaccine is eventually approved in Canada, the company has agreed with the government for it to be produced and distributed on an emergency basis.
CanSino retains the intellectual property rights to the vaccine if it’s approved, which was restated in documents signed by Bains and tabled in the House of Commons last week. The same documents note that the NRC retains the intellectual property of the HEK293-SF-356 cGMP cell line.
As well, they state that the agreement between the government of Canada and CanSino “(does) not address large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine in Canada or distribution to other countries.”
“These will be the subject of a subsequent agreement with the Government of Canada as required,” say the documents, which were a response to an Order Paper
question by Conservative MP Scott Reid.
The NRC wouldn’t tell iPolitics how much money it got from CanSino for licensing the cell line, nor any other terms of its agreement with the company, citing commercial confidentiality.
The documents signed by Bains also say that CanSino and the NRC have committed to the World Health Organization’s public statement on collaborating on COVID-19 vaccine development “by continuing efforts to strengthen the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, co-operation and sharing of data already underway, and work tenaciously to increase the likelihood that one or more safe and effective vaccines will soon be made available to all.”
By Charlie Pinkerton. Published on Aug 17, 2020 5:42pm
The Chinese company, whose COVID-19 vaccine is being prevented from entering Canada for human trials by China’s customs agency, created its shot using medical technology licensed to it by Canada.
Three months ago, the Canadian government and CanSino Biologics agreed to start human trials for the company’s vaccine in Canada. China’s customs agency prevented the first batch of the vaccine candidate from leaving the country when it was en route to Canada. The experimental shot — among the fastest to go through the approval process — was discovered using a cell line that was licensed by Canada’s federal government.
In the 1970s, Canadian researcher Dr. Frank Graham was part of a team of scientists to develop a cell line called HEK293. A cell line is a reproducing version of the same living cell. The use of cell lines are common in both modern lab research and biotechnology and pharmaceutical production.
The line Graham helped to create contained and expressed the transforming genes of the human adenovirus: adenovirus 5, or Ad5.
The National Research Council (NRC)’s proprietary version of the cell line adopted from Graham’s original is called HEK293-SF-356 cGMP and, according to the NRC, is a strong starting point for the development of vaccines.
The NRC first licensed its cell line to CanSino in 2014. In 2017, the company used the NRC’s cell line to develop its Ebola vaccine, called Ad5-EBOV.
CanSino once again relied on the NRC’s cell line in developing its vaccine against COVID-19, which is known as Ad5-nCoV.
In May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the landmark announcement that his government had reached an agreement for Ad5-nCoV to be trialled in humans in Canada.
At the time, the vaccine was being tested in Phase 2 trials in China using hundreds of participants.
READ MORE: Clinical trials of Chinese vaccine similar to Ebola immunizer in Canada to begin in weeks
When the Prime Minister announced the partnership, the NRC praised its joint effort with CanSino, calling it groundbreaking.
“By bringing their respective technologies and expertise together to fight COVID-19, CanSino Biologics and the NRC are aiming to pave the way for future clinical trials in Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Immunization Research Network at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology,” said a joint news release.
The trials, to be carried out at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, were supposed to be the first for a vaccine against COVID-19 in Canada. But shipments of the vaccine never arrived.
iPolitics reported in early July that China’s customs agency had prevented CanSino’s product from leaving for Canada.
A spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains told iPolitics last week that Ad5-nCoV is still being held up. Bains is responsible for the NRC, which is supposed to be collaborating with the company and the vaccination centre through its trials.
READ MORE: Vaccine promised for human trials in Canada held up by Chinese customs
Prof. Amir Attaran, who teaches in the faculties of law and epidemiology at the University of Ottawa, said the Trudeau government is responsible for bungling its vaccine plan.
“(The federal government) was incompetent beyond what I ever imagined would be possible,” Attaran said. “In May, there were two really similar candidates out there — one of (which) comes from Oxford and AstraZeneca — from a country that is our closest ally, practically.”
The vaccine candidates Attaran refers to — one produced by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford in England, his alma mater, and another created by the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston — are adenovirus-based vaccines like CanSino’s, and are similarly progressing through the medical trial process.
Out of these three adenovirus-based vaccines, Attaran said early trials suggested CanSino’s was the least promising.
He said the Prime Minister’s Office is “deeply at fault” for not giving more consideration to available information about each vaccine’s potential efficacy, specially considering that CanSino has never had a vaccine approved outside of China.
Furthermore, during a time of uneasiness between Canada and China, the PMO should have considered the possibility of a politically charged interruption in the plan.
“And the consequence of which is that, barring some tremendous transformation, Canadians are going to get vaccines months later than others,” Attaran said.
While the shipment of Ad5-nCoV has been stalled, three other vaccine candidates have been approved for clinical trials in Canada. The Canadian government has also struck deals with American vaccine producers Pfizer and Moderna to manufacture millions of doses of their in-trial vaccines against COVID-19, should they be approved.
READ MORE: Canada makes vaccine-production deals with major American suppliers
CanSino recently started Phase 3 trials in China, which involves giving it to thousands of people. If the vaccine is eventually approved in Canada, the company has agreed with the government for it to be produced and distributed on an emergency basis.
CanSino retains the intellectual property rights to the vaccine if it’s approved, which was restated in documents signed by Bains and tabled in the House of Commons last week. The same documents note that the NRC retains the intellectual property of the HEK293-SF-356 cGMP cell line.
As well, they state that the agreement between the government of Canada and CanSino “(does) not address large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine in Canada or distribution to other countries.”
“These will be the subject of a subsequent agreement with the Government of Canada as required,” say the documents, which were a response to an Order Paper
question by Conservative MP Scott Reid.
The NRC wouldn’t tell iPolitics how much money it got from CanSino for licensing the cell line, nor any other terms of its agreement with the company, citing commercial confidentiality.
The documents signed by Bains also say that CanSino and the NRC have committed to the World Health Organization’s public statement on collaborating on COVID-19 vaccine development “by continuing efforts to strengthen the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, co-operation and sharing of data already underway, and work tenaciously to increase the likelihood that one or more safe and effective vaccines will soon be made available to all.”
