A leading sate owned Chinese pharmaceutical company, Sinopharm International has sent a letter to the Executive Director of National Institute of Health (NIH), making an offer therein of clinical trials of the vaccine developed for the prevention of coronavirus virus disease. It was the first pharmaceutical company that developed the vaccine, of which clinical trials have been done in China as the pandemic first originated in China and then spread to 198 countries of the world.
The company general manger has expressed the hope that successful clinical trials in Pakistan will make it one of the countries for the launch of Covid-19 vaccine. While talking to a media outlet, the Executive Director NIH has confirmed the receipt of letter from Sinopharm International, saying that collaboration in clinical trials could be of great benefit for Pakistan. He said if clinical trials in Pakistan prove successful, then the country will be able to procure it on high priority basis. As the NIH is an attach organisation of the Ministry of National Health Services, therefore, the Ministry and Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) may have also received this communication on which no immediate action has been taken, if the traditional inertia and red-tapes of bureaucracy is any guide. The lack of interest in research activities related to national health services can be assessed from the rejection of idea of developing Covid-19 vaccine and its utility as preventive cover by Dr.Attau Rehman, Co-chairperson of the task force of Prime Minister’s Programme on ‘Knowledge Economy’. In a talk show on aPrivate TV the other day, he said forget about developing the anti-coronavirus vaccine as the virus continuously mutates. Yes, the virus has taken seven to nine mutations in different countries, but they have not abandoned the pursuit for developing the vaccine and are conducting clinical trials. Being not a medical specialist doctor, he should have reserved his comment. It is solely for specialists of medical fraternity to approve or disapprove the utility of developing Covid-19 vaccine and its use. They very much know about the mutation of novel coronavirus.
In prima facie there seems no harm to collaborate with Chinese pharmaceutical company in clinical trials of the vaccine they have developed and tested in mainland China. Currently, the symptomatic treatment that Pakistani doctors have provided to coronavirus infected patients has shown a marvelous success rate. That is why federal cabinet approved lifting of ban from the export of the tested medicine of Chloroquine group to seven countries, including the US, the UK, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. If clinical trials of the vaccine prove successful in Pakistan, then effective medicine with optimal dose can be determined with the approval of WHO.
There is another useful dimension of collaboration in clinical trials of the vaccine developed by China. It will bring modern technology for research to NIH, help expand its scientific and technical infrastructure and prepare a pool of biochemistry experts for local preparation of vaccines for various viral diseases. Hopefully, the opportunity of clinical trials shall be availed.
