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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider COVID-19 stricken areas to be prioritized in month-long clinical trials-DOST

COVID-19 stricken areas to be prioritized in month-long clinical trials-DOST

Published Feb 4, 2021 02:12 pm

The areas with high incidence of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) are to be prioritized in the clinical trials of vaccines developers that have been been approved to conduct their Phase 3 clinical trials in the Philippines, according to Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña.

Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato dela Peña (TOTO LOZANO/ Presidential Photo / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

During the televised “Laging Handa” briefing, he said the clinical trials in COVID-19 risk areas will be conducted for “one month or less”.

“Required na ang pagdadausan ng clinical trials at ito naman ay hindi magtatagal siguro ng isang buwan or even less, ay gagawin sa mga lugar na mataas ang incidence ng COVID-19 at kailangan ay mataas na incidence na yun ay consisitent over the last the last two weeks bago magumpisa ang clinical trials (It is required that the clinical trials, which may last for a month or less, will be conducted in areas where there is high incidence of COVID-19 and the high incidence must be consistent over the last two weeks before the clinical trials start.) ,” he said.

He said the DOST relies on the data that will be given by the Department of Health (DOH)- Epidemiology Bureau as far as the possible sites of the clinical trials are concerned.

“Pero ngayon pa lang kahit hindi nagsisimula, binigay na dito sa mga vaccine developers ang mga possible sites, at inaaabangan na lang, syempre kung sila ay maguumpisa na (But, now , even before it starts, vaccine developers have been informed about the possible sites and we are just waiting when they will start.),” the DOST Chief said.

Dela Peña said they cannot disclose yet the potential areas for clinical trials since it is part of the Confidentiality Disclosure Agreement (CDA) signed between the Philippines and the vaccine developers, but he said the concerned local government units (LGUs) were already informed about the clinical trials.

The Task Group on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection, chaired by DOST inked CDAs with at least 12 vaccine developers. These include Janssen, Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca, Gamaleya Research Institute, Sinopharm Group, Anhui Zhifei, University of Queensland, Adimmune Corporation, Academia Sinica, Tianyuan Biopharma, Bharat Biotech and CureVac.

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