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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 30) – A second Chinese pharmaceutical company is being reviewed to conduct a clinical trial in the Philippines for its COVID-19 vaccine, Food and Drug Administration CEO Eric Domingo said on Friday.
He said Clover Biopharmaceutical submitted an application this week to conduct the third phase of its trial in the country. It is being reviewed by the panel of vaccine experts from the Department of Science and Technology.
However, Clover’s COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine is still in Phase 1 of the trial to test its safety and efficacy. The country’s panel of vaccine experts is tasked with reviewing the findings from stages 1 and 2.
Clover Biopharmaceutical is the fourth vaccine developer to submit a proposal. The others are Sinovac, Janssen Vaccines and Prevention BV, and Gamaleya Research Institute.
The Chinese firm Sinovac has already passed the selection of the vaccine panel. It is now being simultaneously reviewed by the FDA and the ethics board. Domingo said the results could be available in the next two weeks.
The US-based Janssen and Russia-based Gamaleya’s app haven’t budged from the vaccine expert panel review. Gamaleya, the maker of Sputnik V, was the first company to request a clinical trial in August. But your application remains stalled pending your response to clarifications from experts and request for additional documents.
“They were able to give preliminary data kaya lang may hinihingi pang data from phase 2 of the clinical trial and I think they are also choosing a contract research organization that I heard they already found one,” he said in a media forum.
[Translation: They were able to give preliminary data but the panel asked for data from the Phase 2 clinical trial.]The FDA official added that at least seven other drug companies have asked about conducting trials in the country, including AstraZeneca. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said they will meet with the European pharmaceutical company.
No company has received regulatory approval to conduct COVID-19 vaccine trials in the country yet. Domingo said it is best to start the trials as soon as possible, before COVID-19 cases in the country decline further.
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