THE Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has teamed up with five pharmaceutical companies in China and Taiwan for the conduct of clinical trials for vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

“Ang ating IATF ay nag approve ng collaborations for vaccine trials sa limang vaccine developers,” said University of the Philippines (UP) College of Public Health professor Dr. Nina Gloriani.

The Chinese Academy of Science- Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Sinopharm: Wuhan Institute and Beijing Biologicals Institute, and Sinovac Biotech Ltd. in China, and the Adimmune Corporation, and Academia Sinica in Taiwan will collaborate with the Philippines.

“Ang Pilipinas ay tutuloy na mag connect sa iba’t-iba pang vaccine developers around the world para po makita natin at maisama natin sa trials dito sa ating bansa,” Gloriani said.

More than 100 vaccines against Covid-19 are now being studied under the World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial.

In a public briefing Wednesday, July 8, 2020, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 21 vaccines are undergoing clinical trial while 139 are in the pre-clinical trial stage.

“Katuwang po natin ang DOST (Department of Science and Technology) sa pag momonitor ng mga trials na ito at mga iba pang vaccines na kung kakakitaan ng potensyal laban sa Covid-19, ay atin din pong isasailalim sa testing,” Vergeire said.

A vaccine is tested on animals during pre-clinical trial and on human subjects during a clinical study which involves three phases.

For the phase one of the clinical study, less than a hundred people will receive the vaccine.

Phases two and three will test hundreds and thousands of people, respectively.

Dr. Jaime Montoya, DOST executive director for the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said finding a vaccine against Covid-19 vaccine may take a while.

“Ang pagdidiskubre ng isang bakuna ay isang mahabang proseso, ngunit dahil sa kasalukuyang pandemya, kailangan magkaroon tayo ng isang bakuna na magbibigay proteksyon laban sa Covid-19, mahigit 100 na bakuna na ang pinag aaralan sa kasalukuyan sa ibat ibang bansa karamihan dito ay nasa pre clinical studies na,” he said.

Montoya stressed the importance of the country’s participation in the solidarity trials for vaccines.

“Ang atin pong pinaka epektibong stratehiya upang makamit natin ang ating objective ay ang partisipasyon natin sa mga clinica trials na isasagawa sa ating bansa sa pamamagitan ng ating pakikipag usap sa mga nag develop na po ng bakunang ito,” he said.

The Solidarity Trial is a clinical trial launched by partner countries of WHO.

The Philippines’ participation in the trial was approved by the Single Joint Research Ethics Board (SJREB) on April 17. (Jove Moya/SunStar Philippines)