Bangladesh Vaccine Trial
Bangladesh government rejects Chinese COVID-19 trial
Dhaka: The clinical trial in Bangladesh of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech has now become uncertain after the country's health ministry expressed unwillingness towards co-financing the initiative as requested by the Chinese drugmaker.
On Sept 22, Sinovac wrote to the health minister saying they were planning to begin the phase 3 test of the vaccine candidate, CoronaVac, in August. But the firm spent the funds in another country as the Bangladesh government had delayed giving the go-ahead to the trials, reports bdnews24.
Sinovac said it was not sure about getting the final approval from Bangladesh. They appealed to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation or CEPI for funds to run the trial in Bangladesh but never received it, the news portal reported.
The company hence wanted the Bangladesh government to invest money to run the safety trial.
Sinovac should run the trial with their own money because that’s what they said they would do when they had sought approval, Health Minister Zahid Maleque told bdnews24
“(And) that’s why they were given permission,” he said.
“They also said they will provide us 100,000 doses of the vaccine free of charge. We approved the trial after they wrote to us following discussions on all of these issues.”
His ministry checked, first via the icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) and then directly, with Sinovac when the planned trial of the vaccine candidate did not begin following the regulatory approval, Maleque said.
“A country’s job is done when it approves the clinical test of a vaccine. They never asked for co-funding when they sought approval for the trial. This is not a contract we have with the Chinese government. This is a private company and we cannot have a co-funding (arrangement) with a private company," the Minister said.
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