Authorities in Bangladesh have approved Stage 3 trials of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech.

The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh or icddr,b will conduct the trial on health workers over 18 months.

It applied for the permission from Bangladesh Medical Research Council a month ago and received the approval on Sunday.

The icddr,b has selected Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s Unit 1 and Unit 2, Mugda General Hospital, Kurmitola General Hospital, Kuwait-Bangladesh Friendship Hospital and Holy Family Hospital for the trial.

BMRC Director Dr Mahmood-uz-jahan said the icddr,b would be able to fix the starting date of the trial after getting the nod from the Directorate General of Drugs Administration.

Sinovac said earlier in July that it was starting Phase 3 trials of its potential coronavirus vaccine in Brazil, becoming one of three companies to move into the late stages in the race to develop an inoculation against the disease.

Sinovac initiated the development of the vaccine candidate in late January and is preparing a coronavirus vaccine plant, which it hopes will be ready this year and capable of making up to 100 million shots a year.

The Beijing-based drug maker’s vaccine, called CoronaVac, induced neutralising antibodies in “above 90%” of people who were tested 14 days after receiving two injections, two weeks apart. There were no severe side effects reported, the company said in June.

The preliminary results were from a 600-patient, placebo-controlled Phase 2 study. Sinovac also conducted a 143-patient, placebo-controlled Phase 1 study.

Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials typically test the safety of a drug before it enters Phase 3 trials that test its efficacy.

No COVID-19 vaccine has yet been approved for commercial use. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis last year found that about one in three vaccines in the first stage of testing later gains approval.

https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2020/07/20/bangladesh-approves-trials-of-chinese-firm-sinovacs-covid-19-vaccine-candidate