Photo of Chen Wei at the Photo Beijing 2020 Photo: Xu Liuliu/GT

Prominent Chinese coronavirus vaccine developer Chen Wei is now accelerating the development of antibodies to treat people suffering from COVID-19, which are expected to enter clinical trials soon. 

Chen, who has been called a "people's hero" has been playing a crucial role in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic in China, by racing to develop a vaccine, which was the first to go into clinical trial. 

As an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a researcher at the Institute of Military Medicine under the Academy of Military Sciences, she also claimed earlier that a COVID-19 vaccine her team produced is effective against all existing mutations of the novel coronavirus.

Chen and her team, are also developing  monoclonal antibodies as a therapy in the treatment for  COVID-19, according to China Central Television's military channel. The drug aims to improve the lung functions of infected people, and is expected to soon start clinical trials, the report said.

Vaccine experts told the Global Times previously that China is taking the lead in COVID-19 vaccine research, with China-developed candidates proving their safety and efficacy during clinical trials and emergency use on tens of thousands of Chinese people.

The vaccine Chen's team developed is a recombinant adenovirus vector vaccine named Ad5-nCoV. It is being jointly developed by Chen's team and Chinese biotech company CanSino Biologics Inc. 

CanSino recently launched Phase III clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine in Mexico and has successfully vaccinated the first group of subjects.

"She is our real hero," said a netizen about Chen on Chinese Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Tuesday night, as her possible COVID-19 treatment drew public attention, and was widely applauded as the world awaits anxiously for an effective treatment for the disease.