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DOH, DOST, and FDA deny stalling Sinopharm’s application for COVID-19 vaccine trial
MANILA (UPDATED) – The Department of Health (DOH) and other agencies on Friday denied reports that the Chinese company Sinopharm’s application for clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines had been deliberately stalled.
“The DOH categorically denies these unfounded accusations and clarifies that the country’s participation in several clinical trials, including that of Sinopharm, was approved by the Interagency Working Group on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as early as May, as resolved in the IATF -Resolution EID No. 39 dated May 22, 2020, ”DOH said in a joint statement with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In a statement, DOST said that “Sinopharm approached DOST with two collaborative proposals: (1) the conduct of its clinical trial will be funded by the Philippines, or (2) the Philippines will acknowledge approval / authorization from its country. “
DOST said it responded to tell you that the Philippines can only fund clinical trials under the World Health Organization Solidarity Trial. However, Sinopharm did not respond to his letter.
In a tweet, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. reacted to an ABS-CBN report on this issue and said: “Okay, Pfizer, then. Moderna’s offer is already available and it’s huge. AstraZeneca too. So there’s no problem.”
The FDA also said in the joint statement that Sinopharm has not submitted any applications for either clinical trials or emergency use in the Philippines.
Sinopharm, owned by the Chinese government, was among the world’s pioneers in the COVID-19 vaccine. However, in October it was announced that he was no longer interested in conducting clinical trials in the Philippines. Your vaccine is supposed to have a 79% efficacy rate against COVID-19.
The state pharmaceutical company recently made headlines in the Philippines after it was revealed that members of the Presidential Security Group were using its vaccines illegally.
Only Pfizer, which has a 95% efficacy rate, has applied for emergency use in the Philippines, and the FDA previously said it could finish evaluating the application this month. The vaccine developer has already obtained approval from the World Health Organization and its vaccine has already been used in the United States and the United Kingdom.
AstraZeneca, which already has a supply agreement with the private sector and the government, is expected to also submit its application. It has an average efficiency rate of 70%. Meanwhile, DOH said it is working on a data confidentiality agreement with Moderna for the possible procurement of its vaccines, which have a 94.1% efficacy rate.
– With a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News.
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