BEIJING (Reuters), – China’s Suzhou Abogen Biosciences Co has announced that the COVID-19 candidate vaccine using messenger RNA technology (mRNA), and targeting Omicron variants, was approved clinically in the United Arab Emirates.

Friday’s announcement by Pfizer/BioNTech brings Abogen into the fold. Moderna (NASDAQ:) In testing candidates specifically for Omicron, which is a transmissible variant that has increased resistance to existing antibodies.

Mainland China has vaccinated more than 88% of its 1.4 million inhabitants against COVID using non-mRNA vaccines. While it hasn’t approved foreign vaccines however, data from the real world showed that Sinopharm (and Sinovac) are more effective in preventing COVID infection then mRNA shot of Moderna/Pfizer/BioNTech.

Abogen also communicated with regulators from China, India, and other countries regarding possible clinical trials for Omicron-specific candidates, according to a statement.

Abogen and Walvax Biotechnology co-developed an mRNA candidate for an older coronavirus-based strain that does not have major mutations. This is currently being evaluated in Phase III trials in China and Mexico.

Walvax has also partnered with RNACure, a Shanghai-based startup to create a candidate variants-targeting mRNA vaccination vaccine. This will be different than Abogen’s.

Clinical trials have begun in Hong Kong, mainland China, with two Omicron-specific vaccines from Sinopharm, and one from Sinovac. They contain inactivated coronavirus and are “killed” or inactivated.

A third Omicron specific candidate from Sinopharm has been approved by the UAE regulator. The clinical trials were approved based on protein as well as two Omicron candidates inactivated, Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group stated on Friday.