Heterologous COVID-19 Booster Approved in Indonesia and Malaysia

CanSino Biologics Inc. recently announced that its Convidecia™ vaccine had been approved by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and the Indonesian National Agency of Drug and Food Control as a heterologous booster.

Previously, Convidecia has been approved for use as a heterologous booster in China and Argentina, stated the press release issued on March 22, 2022.

Heterologous booster vaccination refers to vaccine boosters from different technology platforms from the prime vaccines, which could improve the overall immune response and enhance protection against other variants.

A recent non-peer-reviewed study published on March 10, 2022, showed that using Convidecia as a heterologous booster, either through intramuscular injection or inhalation, generated greater neutralizing antibody responses than those induced by the homologous inactivated vaccine booster or heterologous recombinant protein vaccine booster.

These researchers wrote, 'Our findings suggest that inactivated vaccine recipients should consider adenovirus-vectored vaccine boosters in China and that aerosolized Ad5-nCoV may provide a more efficient alternative in response to the spread of the Omicron variant.'

The single-dose Convidecia is a genetically engineered vaccine with the replication-defective adenovirus type 5 vector to express the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spike protein.

Note: This news article edited the Company's press release for clarity and manually curated it for mobile readers.