A preliminary human trial of the Covid-19 vaccine from the German company BioNTech has been authorized by China. 

The potential vaccine is one of the two most advanced candidates on which BioNTech is working with its partner Pfizer. They received this week's "fast track" status from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which aims to speed up the regulatory review process.

According to BioNTech's local partner, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, a research unit should launch a phase 1 clinical trial of BNT162b1 "once it is ready and as soon as possible". The pharmaceutical company is authorized to develop and exclusively market the vaccines against Covid-19 developed using BioNTech's mRNA technology in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The vaccine is among at least 23 candidates tested on humans as the pharmaceutical industry launched a frantic race to end the pandemic that infected and killed more than 13 million people more than half a million.

Fosun Pharma agreed in March to pay up to $ 85 million (€ 74.55 million) in license fees to use BioNTech's exclusive mRNA technology and to invest € 43.85 million in a stake in the German firm. 

With Reuters

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