China's Food and Drug Administration has approved a second-generation human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine for clinical testing, the developer said Wednesday.

It is the world's second second-generation HPV vaccine to reach the clinical testing stage, following one developed by the Merck & Company Inc based in the US, which also obtained permission for clinical testing in China.

The research was led by the National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, based in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province. If approved, the vaccine will be manufactured in Xiamen.

Compared with the first-generation vaccine, the new one can protect against five more high-risk types of HPV and two more low-risk types. It is estimated it could prevent about 90 percent of cervical cancers and genital warts.

Developers at Xiamen University said the vaccine uses more cost-effective coliform bacteria as the antigen, while foreign companies use yeast or insect cells, giving it an edge in the market.

The Chinese HPV vaccine is expected to enter the market in 2022 after four to five years of clinical testing.

The Chinese mainland approved the country's first HPV vaccine in July 2016.

Newspaper headline: Chinese HPV vaccine gets clinical testing