ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health (NIH) has announced that it had obtained formal approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for the Phase III clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine.
According to a statement, the national institute stated that the vaccine under trial is the one being prepared by Chinese biotech firm, CanSino Biologics, and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology.
“For the first time, the country is going through the phase-III clinical trial of any COVID-19 vaccine. It is a multi-country, multi-centre clinical trial being conducted by CanSinoBio already in China, Russia, and shortly in Saudi Arabia,” the statement added.
The statement further stated that the vaccine trial in Pakistan was being carried out under the supervision of the NIH head, General Aamer Ikram, who is the principal investigator of the programme.
“It is a tripartite activity between NIH, CanSinoBio and AJM Pharma. The study will be conducted in prestigious medical centres in the country, including the Aga Khan Medical University and the Indus Hospital in Karachi, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and the University of Health Sciences in Lahore and the Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad,” it added.
The statement said, “The National Bioethics Committee (NBC) of the Pakistan Health Research Council (PHRC) has given ethical approval for the study while the clinical trial has also been approved by the highest global regulatory body.”
known as recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine adenovirus type 5 vector (Ad5-nCoV).
It is worth mentioning here that a Pakistani pharmaceutical firm, AGM Pharma, has signed a contract with the Chinese Company to conduct a clinical trial of the vaccine at the NIH.
CanSino Biologics also recently won a patent approval from Beijing for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad5-nCOV, state media reported.
ADVERTISEMENT
