Vaccine company Jiangsu Recbio Technology Co Ltd (Recbio) (HK:02179) reported on Wednesday that it recently received clinical trial approval for ReCOV, its recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine, from the Food and Drug Administration of the Philippines.

The company has received approval to conduct a randomised, blinded, active-controlled Phase II clinical trial of ReCOV on healthy subjects aged 18 years and above who have received primary vaccination with two doses of an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine, to compare the immunogenicity and safety between ReCOV and Pfizer's mRNA vaccine COMIRNATY. It plans to commence clinical enrolment in the near future.

ReCOV is a recombinant COVID-19 vaccine that is being developed by Recbio with its technology platforms including the novel adjuvant and protein engineering platforms. The adjuvant used in the vaccine is the company's self-developed novel adjuvant BFA03.

According to the company, ReCOV can induce high titers of neutralizing antibody and Th1 biased cellular immune responses. It has shown favourable neutralizing effect and immune persistence against variants including Omicron variant and Delta variant. Comprehensive advantages include overall positive safety profile, potential growth in production scale, low production cost, preparation stability and ability to be stored and transported at room temperature.