A new pharmaceutical companies, one Russian and one Chinese, have contacted the the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to register and conduct phase III clinical trials of their Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan. As of now, three foreign pharmaceutical companies have already developed their interests in the country.
A Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) spokesperson announced that Russia’s state-owned Sputnik-V company has filed an application with DRAP, seeking permission for emergency use of its vaccine in Pakistan.
“It is a double-dose vaccine and will be administered by syringes,” he said.
He also announced that Chinese firm Anhui Zheifi Longcom Biopharmaceuticals Company Limited has applied for phase-III clinical trial of its vaccine in Pakistan.
“The vaccine has been jointly developed by the company and the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences,” the official stated.
Currently, DRAP has approved the emergency use of the British firm Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine and the Chinese firm Sinopharm’s vaccine. A third Chinese vaccine by CanSino Biologics is currently undergoing phase III trials in Pakistan.
In the last 24 hours, 1,745 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Pakistan while 47 lost their lives, according to the latest statistics released by the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC). Most deaths were seen in the province of Punjab followed by Sindh. A total of 528,891 cases have been detected so far in the country.
