vaccine Photo:VCG

Chinese COVID-19 vaccine front-runner CanSino Biologics will be listed on the STAR stock market in Shanghai Thursday, with the second-highest offering price on the technology studded board.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, CanSino Biologics has become known to the public for its recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine (Ad5-nCoV) developed together with a research team from the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology which is led by top Chinese vaccine researcher Chen Wei.

The Hong Kong-traded Chinese pharmaceutical firm is looking to raise 5.2 billion yuan ($748 million) in a secondary public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market and plans to offer 24.8 million common shares each priced at 209.71 yuan, the company said in a filing. 

The company's shares opened at HK$225 in Hong Kong Wednesday morning before dropping 5.47 percent to HK$265 in afternoon trading. 

Vaccine-related A shares dropped broadly during Wednesday trading after Russia said Tuesday that it had approved the world's first COVID-19 vaccine. Shares of Chengdu Kanghua, BioKangtai and Shanghai Hile Bio-Tech dropped 10 percent during the trading session.

CanSino's stock price has soared more than 340 percent since the start of this year on hopes of a potential COVID-19 vaccine which has shown promise in early human testing.

In June, its vaccine candidate Ad5-nCoV, co-developed by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, was granted a special one-year drug approval for military use, the company said in a statement.

Thus far the company has completed phase one and phase two clinical trials for Ad5-nCoV in China. Data from phase two clinical trials showed the vaccine induced immune responses in most subjects, the company revealed on July 21.

Phase three trials will be launched in Saudi Arabia and involve around 5,000 people, Reuters reported Sunday.

Global Times