Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 11) — Five firms developing a coronavirus vaccine have signed an agreement allowing the Philippines access to their data, but only four companies are looking to hold clinical trials in the country, an official from the Department of Science and Technology said on Friday.
DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) Executive Director Jaime Montoya clarified the statement made by DOST Secretary Fortunato dela Peña, who said seven foreign firms have signed the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement.
Montoya said the developers of Seqirus from Australia, Sinopharm and Sinovac from China, Gamaleya from Russia, and Adimmune from Taiwan have inked data disclosure deals with the Philippines. However, Sinopharm is not interested in holding the Phase 3 of its medical research in the country to ensure a faster completion of the stage for an earlier vaccine rollout.
“They want to finish their Phase 3 trials at the soonest and doing another one in another country will delay their timelines. That’s according to them,” Montoya told CNN Philippines.
The data to be provided by the companies which signed the agreement will be studied by a panel of vaccine experts from the Sub-Technical Working Group for Vaccine Development, and will be forwarded to the Food and Drug Administration for further evaluation before approval.
Dela Peña, in a media briefing on Thursday, said the clinical trials to be conducted and funded by private firms are different from the Solidarity Trials initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Philippines is a participant in the global effort to find an effective treatment and prevention for COVID-19.
He said the Inter-Agency Task Force has approved the recommendation to pick out clinical trial participants from eight “zones” —
six areas in Metro Manila, one from Calabarzon, and one from Cebu.
“Ang pinipili kasing lugar ay iyong mataas ang incidence ng COVID-19. So iyong mga barangay na naroroon o malapit doon, usually it will require anywhere between five to ten barangays for a trial,” he said.
[Translation: The areas being chosen are those with high cases of COVID-19. A clinical trial usually requires the participation of five to 10 barangays in that area.]
He added that the trial spearheaded by the WHO should be the country’s priority over independent research.
CNN Philippines correspondent Carolyn Bonquin contributed to this report.
