Vaccine makers from Russia, US, China apply for Phase 3 clinical trials in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines—A science and technology official on Thursday said vaccine developers from Russia, the United States and China have applied to hold Phase 3 clinical trials in the country for a possible coronavirus vaccine.
Russia shocked the international community in August when it became the first to approve a COVID-19 vaccine in an apparent race to find a cure with other developed countries.
Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said Gamaleya's Sputnik V is among the three applications they have received for the said trials.
The other two are Janssen Pharmaceuticals of American company Johnson & Johnson and Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech.
Montoya said there is no limit on how many countries or developers will be accepted for clinical trials, but the country will remain committed to the World Health Organization's solidarity trial which could begin by the last week of October.
"Basta lahat ng kumpanya na gumagawa, whether government or public, may agreement or no, puwede naman mag-clinical trial sa bansa," he said in a Laging Handa virtual briefing.
(All developers are welcome be it government or public firm, whether there is an agreement or non. They can hold clinical trials here in the country.)
The official added that the Philippine government is assuming that the firms will apply for eventual marketing in the country once the vaccines are approved.
But will the Philippines be a priority in getting supply from these firms should the vaccines work?
Montoya said the clinical trials are only a basis if the vaccines would work on Filipinos, and that the final decision would come from the Food and Drug Administration and the national government.
Still, he said the Philippines is among the 92 nations qualified to receive at least 20% of the supply through the COVAX facility, a global initiative to ensure that the vaccine will be made available to countries.
Three percent of the delivered 20, expected by the second quarter of 2021, will be for medical workers, while the 17% remaining will be for the most vulnerable to the COVID-19.
"'Yung remaining 80%, 'yun po ang ine-negotiate pa after the 20% has been delivered, at ito ay through the COVAX facility," Montoya said.
(The remaining 80% of supply will have to be negotiated after the 20% is delivered and it will be through the COVAX facility.)
President Rodrigo Duterte has said that he will prioritize vaccines developed by Russia and China as he questioned pharmaceutical companies from the West asking for payment in advance.
Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK said on July 29, 2020, that they have agreed to supply Britain with up to 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement covers a vaccine candidate developed by France's Sanofi in partnership with the UK's GSK and is subject to a "final contract."
This thread collects some of the major developments in the search for a vaccine to ease the new coronavirus pandemic. (Main photo by AFP/Joel Saget)
As negotiations towards a new pandemic treaty pick up pace, observers warn of watered-down efforts to ensure equitable access to the medical products needed to battle future Covid-like threats.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next catastrophe, or even prevent it altogether.
The process is still in the early stages, with the aim of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
But critics warn that revisions being made to the preliminary negotiating text are weakening the language -- notably in a key area aimed at preventing the rampant inequity seen in access to vaccines and other medical products during the Covid pandemic.
"I think it is a real step backwards," Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP. — AFP
Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub is ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs.
The facility was set up in the South African city of Cape Town in 2021 on the back of the success of revolutionary anti-Covid vaccines introduced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"This precious project... will bring a paradigm shift in addressing the serious problem we faced, the equity problem, during the pandemic, so (that) it's not repeated again," World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a media briefing to mark the inauguration. — AFP
China has approved its first locally developed messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, its manufacturer said Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict Covid-zero regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for "emergency use" by Beijing's health regulator, the company said in a statement.
It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details. — AFP
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax raises doubts about its ability to continue its business, announcing plans to cut spending after struggles in rolling out its coronavirus jab.
Shares of Novavax plummeted 25 percent in extended trading, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.
While the firm should have enough money to fund operations, the situation is "subject to significant uncertainty," it says in a statement. — AFP
The protection against Covid-19 from being previously infected lasts at least as long as that offered by vaccination, one of the largest studies conducted on the subject says.
Ten months after getting Covid, people still had an 88% lower risk of reinfection, hospitalisation and death, according to the study published in the Lancet journal.
That makes this natural immunity "at least as durable, if not more so" than two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines, the study says.
The authors nevertheless emphasized that their findings should not discourage vaccination, which remains the safest way to get immunity. — AFP
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