China is expected to start clinical trials of a SARS vaccine soon as a testing report shows the vaccine meets all the requirements for testing on humans.

The 55 doses provided by the Beijing Kexing Bio-product Company have all passed a test on new medicines for clinical application, according to the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, which tested the vaccine.

Kexing Company, the vaccine's developer, has completed pre-clinical trials of the vaccine on monkeys and has applied to the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) for clinical testing.

The firm's scientists began to develop the vaccine at the end of April during the outbreak of SARS epidemic in the Chinese mainland.

China has so far produced more than 1,400 shots of the vaccine and prepared another 20,000 doses for quality control experts' inspection.

Yin Hongzhang, head of SFDA's Biological Product Section, said Monday that his administration had decided to speed up the vaccine testing and was expected to approve its clinical trials by the end of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2003)