TOKYO: Daiichi Sankyo Co. said Monday that it has started a clinical trial in Japan for a COVID-19 vaccine being developed jointly with the University of Tokyo.

In the initial stage of the trial, some 150 people will each receive a dose of the vaccine to test its safety.

Meanwhile, KM Biologics Co., a Kumamoto-based unit of food and pharmaceuticals group Meiji Holdings Co.,  is expected to start testing its own vaccine soon.

The Daiichi Sankyo vaccine is designed to produce antibodies by using synthesized messenger RNA carrying genetic information of the novel coronavirus.

Vaccines developed by US drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and U.S. biotech startup Moderna Inc. use similar technology.

Of the Japanese companies developing COVID-19 vaccines, AnGes Inc., a startup related to Osaka University, and major drugmaker Shionogi & Co.  started clinical trials last June and December, respectively.

JIJI Press