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MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) revealed that China-based Sinopharm wanted the Philippines to fund its clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country or to acknowledge the approval or authorization of the vaccine by the China.
“Sinopharm approached DOST with two collaborative proposals: (1) conducting its clinical trial to be funded by the Philippines, or (2) the Philippines will recognize the approval / authorization of its country,” said DOST in a joint statement with the Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday.
The DOST added that it responded to Sinopharm’s letter, saying that it can only fund the trials under the World Health Organization solidarity trial.
Sinopharm never responded to the letter, the DOST said.
This was in response to the disclosure of two representatives of MKG Universal Drug Trading Corporation, who claim to be the “sole and exclusive” Filipino distributor of the vaccine developed by Sinopharm.
The representatives had claimed that Sinopharm sent a letter to the Secretary of Health, Francisco Duque III, in May 2020. That letter said that Sinopharm was inviting the Philippines to collaborate for the clinical trial.
Duque, however, never responded to the letter, the MKG representative claimed.
Therefore, Sinopharm decided to conduct clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between July and September.
Duque, in a radio interview, responded to the representative’s claims, saying that he had no knowledge that Sinopharm sent his office a letter to conduct clinical trials.
The DOH, meanwhile, said it “categorically denies” the accusations of the representatives.
“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 Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as early as May, as resolved in the IATF -Resolution EID No. 39 of May 22, 2020 ”, said the DOH.
The FDA also reported that, according to its records, Sinopharm has not submitted a clinical trial application or an emergency use authorization.
In October, DOST said Sinopharm “changed its mind” and decided not to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines.
The Sinopharm vaccine was reported to have an efficacy rate of 79 percent.
China recently approved the vaccine for general public use.
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For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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