[ad_1]
The Department of Health (DOH) denied on Saturday, January 2, 2021, the accusations of the alleged local distributor of the Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinopharm, that the former sat on the latter’s request to conduct clinical trials of his coronavirus disease ( Covid-19) vaccine candidate.
In a statement, DOH said it is not true that it did not act on Sinopharm’s offer to conduct human trials, saying it was the company that did not respond to the Philippine government.
“DOH categorically denies these baseless allegations and clarifies that the country’s participation in several clinical trials, including Sinopharm’s, was approved by the Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as early as May,” DOH said. .
He added that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) responded immediately to Sinopharm’s proposals regarding the country’s participation in its clinical trials.
Sinopharm’s proposal provided that the conduct of its clinical trial will be funded by the Philippines, or that the Philippines will acknowledge approval / authorization from its country.
“In response, DOST wrote to tell them that the Philippines only funds trials under the WHO (World Health Organization) Solidarity Trial. DOST noted that Sinopharm never responded to this letter, ”DOH said.
In a radio interview, two representatives from MKG Universal Drugs Trading Corporation claimed that Sinopharm had contacted DOH in May 2020 to conduct clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in the Philippines, but received no comment from La agency.
MKG representatives, who declined to be named, claimed that if DOH had acted on their proposal, the Philippines would already have the supply of the Sinopharm vaccine.
It should be noted that it was the Sinopharm vaccine that was allegedly used to inoculate members of the military, including the Presidential Security Group.
This was despite the fact that Sinopharm has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in the Philippines. (HDT / SunStar Philippines)
[ad_2]
