Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
CanSino Biologics Chief Executive Yu Xuefeng said on Friday he was confident his company's experimental COVID-19 vaccine using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology was as good as shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.
As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves in China after the country abandoned its zero-COVID policy in December, domestic companies like CanSino are racing to develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
The country - which experienced a wave of infections across its 1.4 billion population after the sudden relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions - has so far declined to use mRNA vaccines from abroad, and has yet to approve a domestic one that uses the technology.
Approved vaccines in China are widely considered less effective than the Moderna Inc and Pfizer Inc-BioNTech SE mRNA shots.
Yu acknowledged that it was not possible to directly test the CanSino vaccine versus the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots in a head-to-head trial because they were not available in China.
"But just based on published data...I'm confident our product is as good as the already launched mRNA vaccines," he told Reuters in an interview.
In January, CanSino reported "positive" interim data from its experimental COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine, CS-2034, in a mid-stage clinical trial.
When asked whether Chinese authorities were keen to have a homegrown mRNA vaccine, Yu said there was not much public information on what was going on.
"But I will say, from the technology perspective, any product - as long as you meet the regulatory requirements - there's no reason to not allow to enter into the market."
CanSino is currently in discussion with Chinese regulators around the protocol for a late-stage study for CS-2034 - and the trial will definitely be conducted this year, Yu said.
If the vaccine is approved, the company is working on ways to reduce the costs of making and deploying its mRNA vaccine, he said, noting that it will definitely be cheaper than the roughly US$120 list price per dose Pfizer is hoping to charge in the United States later this year.
Although mRNA technology is more malleable and easier to tweak to address new variants versus traditional vaccine approaches, mRNA vaccines typically require more expensive ultra-cold storage.
However, researchers have made some strides in making sure formulations remain stable at somewhat higher temperatures.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.