China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals has started its vaccine clinical trials in the country, an official of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has disclosed.
"Clover started last week,” Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, who leads the Task Group on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection (TG-VES), told the Manila Bulletin in a Viber message.
In mid-March, the DOST official said Clover's shipment of supplies and materials were ongoing, and that the clinical trials were expected to be conducted soon.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved on Jan.8, 2021 Clover Biopharmaceuticals’ independent clinical trial application.
Three vaccine developers were given the green light to conduct their Phase 3 clinical trials in the Philippines. These include Clover Pharmaceuticals, and Sinovac Biotech and Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceuticals.
Guevara said “there is no date yet" for Sinovac’s vaccine clinical trials.
She assured the public that amid the government’s reimposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal, it "will not affect the clinical trials.”
in February, Janssen Pharmaceuticals started its Phase 3 vaccine clinical trials in the country.