Pakistan health authorities have given the green light for the third-stage clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine, regulators announced on Tuesday as the country marks its first-ever test of the drug.
The vaccine is being produced by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and China's CanSino Biologics and is set to be unveiled in September, an official who will oversee the test disclosed.
Pakistan's government-controlled National Institute of Health on August 17 bared that the late-stage trial would be the first of its kind in the country. The NIH said Pakistan's Drug Regulatory Authority approved the advanced trial of the experimental Chinese vaccine.
The potential treatment is already undergoing large-scale trials on human subjects in Russia, Chile, Argentina, and China. Pakistani regulators said Saudi Arabia will also take part in the advanced tests. The NIH will spearhead the test for the candidate drug Ad5-nCoV along with biotech group AJM, CanSino's local affiliate.
To be conducted at multiple health centers across the country, the inclusion of Pakistan in the massive trial on human participants would help the government secure "preferential vaccine supply and pricing," regulators said.
Over 6,000 people have died from the virus in Pakistan, with infections hitting the 290,000 mark but cases on the decline for several weeks, based on the government's latest tally.
Globally, over 150 experimental treatments are currently being developed to combat the pandemic. Twenty-five of these have been tried on humans, the World Health Organization said. Abdul Bari, director of the Indus Hospital, hopes they can come out with the treatment "within three to four months."
Meanwhile, China has approved the candidate drug for use by its armed forces after initial and mid-phase tests. Advance trials are being readied for Saudi Arabia and Mexico, reports said.
