COVID-19 vaccine: Chinese company seeks co-financing for phase-3 trial in Bangladesh

China’s COVID-19 vaccine developing company Sivac Biotech has sought finances from Banglesh for conducting phase-3 clinical trial of its vaccine candidate. company was given permission to carry out phase-3 human trial about a month ago by Bangleshi government. 

Health Division Secretary of Banglesh, Abdul Mannan confirmed on Sunday that Sivac Biotech Ltd has sent a letter to government seeking co-financing for COVID-19 vaccine trial. He said company h t asked for finances by government while obtaining approval to carry out trials.

Chinese firm h originally sent proposal to Banglesh through International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka. government gave final clearance for clinical trial to company on August 27. 

According to an official of ICDDR,B, it is w entirely up to government to decide if y will agree to co-financing proposal as it was t mentioned in original proposal of Sivac Biotech. As per agreement, Banglesh was supposed to be given one lakh vaccines for free. It also gave government liberty to purchase on priority, an equate quantum of vaccines from Chinese company.

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China pushes emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people who have been given COVID-19 vaccines in China, before final regulatory approval for general use. It's an unusual move that raises ethical and safety questions, as companies and governments worldwide race to develop a vaccine that will stop spre of new coronavirus.

Chinese companies earlier drew attention for giving vaccine to ir top executives and leing researchers before human trials to test ir safety and efficacy h even begun. In recent months, y have injected a far larger number under an emergency use designation approved in June, and that number appears poised to rise.

It's unclear exactly how many people have been injected so far, but Chinese vaccine makes have offered some clues. State-owned Sipharm subsidiary CNBG has given vaccine to 350,000 people outside its clinical trials, which have about 40,000 people enrolled, a top CNBG executive said recently.

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Ar company, SiVac, has injected 90% of its employees and family members, or about 3,000 people, most under emergency-use provision, CEO Yin Weidong said. It has also provided tens of thousands of rounds of its CoronaVac to Beijing city government. Ar candidate being jointly developed by military and Cansi, a biopharmaceutical company, has been approved for emergency use in military personnel.

Chinese companies have four vaccines in phase 3 — two from Sipharm and one each from SiVac and Cansi. Chinese government referenced World Health Organization's emergency-use principles to create its own through a strict process, National Health Commission official Zheng Zhongwei said at a news conference. He said re have been serious side effects in clinical trials.

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(Im credits: AP)