The prominent Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo received approval from Japan's Health Ministry's expert panel for a COVID-19 vaccine, NHK reports.
This marks the first domestically-developed COVID-19 vaccine to receive formal approval from the ministry. The panel's approval on Monday was based on their assessment of the vaccine's effectiveness and safety.
Until now, Japan has been relying on COVID-19 vaccines developed by foreign companies like Pfizer and Moderna, as there were no domestically-produced options. In January, Daiichi Sankyo submitted an application to the health ministry seeking approval for its messenger RNA vaccine, which belongs to the same category as Pfizer and Moderna's vaccines.
The vaccine developed by Daiichi Sankyo targets the original strain of the virus and operates by stimulating immunity through the introduction of synthetic mRNA that produces a segment of the spike protein in the human body.
In addition to Daiichi Sankyo's vaccine, the expert panel also discussed another COVID-19 vaccine developed by a Japanese pharmaceutical company named Shionogi. However, a decision on Shionogi's vaccine was deferred for further deliberation by the experts.
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