(UPDATED) Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña on Monday, September 14, 2020, said they have identified eight zones involving 13 hospitals across the country as sites for the World Health Organization (WHO) solidarity trials for vaccine candidates against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The eight zones are:
Under Resolution No. 68 of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, the DOST and the Department of the Interior and Local Government will sign a memorandum of agreement on the implementation of the zoning guidelines, especially in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Dela Peña said the DOST-led sub-technical working group will also recommend the creation of a safety and monitoring committee which will be independent of the trial sponsor.
He said the government is just waiting for the WHO to release the protocols.
"We hope that by October, the WHO has already released the list of protocols," he said.
The DOST chief also said the government has signed confidentiality disclosure agreements (CDA) with five vaccine developers, namely, Seqirus in Australia, Gamaleya in Russia, Adimmune in Taiwan, Sinovac in China and Sinopharm in China.
As of September 10, eight institutes and pharmaceutical companies were leading the global race to develop a vaccine against Covid-19 and were either conducting or have completed phase three clinical trials.
These are AstraZeneca with University of Oxford, CanSino with Beijing Institute of Technology, Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia, Janssen Pharmaceutical (USA), Sinovac (China), Sinopharm (China), Moderna (USA), and Pfizer (USA).
Clinical trials for the use of virgin coconut oil (VCO), lagundi and tawa-tawa as treatment or adjunct therapy are also ongoing in the country.
Trials on the use of VCO in suspect and probable cases of Covid-19 at the Sta. Rosa Community Hospital are expected to be finished in October and the results should be out by November.
The PGH is currently recruiting volunteers for trials on the use of VCO for hospitalized moderate and severe cases.
Screening is ongoing for patients who will receive lagundi as standard treatment for mild cases.
The use of tawa-tawa as adjunct therapy for Covid-19 is under review by the Joint Research Ethics Board in four government hospitals under the Department of Health.
WHO trials for additional treatments for hospitalized Covid-19 patients, meanwhile, now involve 980 subjects.
Trials for Japanese flu drug favipiravir in Covid-19 patients with pneumonia will start in the third week of September while the use of melatonin is still awaiting approval by the Food and Drugs Administration.
The Philippines' participation in the WHO trials was approved by the IATF through Resolution No. 47.
Dela Peña said its implementation will be spearheaded by PGH. The DOST has allotted P89 million for these trials. (Marites Villamor-Ilano/VoxPop Philippines)