MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday contradicted a recent statement regarding an alleged request sent by China-based Sinopharm in May 2020, for the conduct of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in the Philippines.
In an interview over DZBB, Duque said he is not aware of any letter sent to his office by Sinopharm.
“Wala akong alam, ang alam ko lang na nakapag submit ng clinical trial for phase three na gagampanan dito satin [ay] ang Janssen ng Johnson & Johnson,” he explained.
(I don’t have any idea about that, the only brand that submitted an application for phase three clinical trial in the country is Janssen of Johnson & Johnson.)
The Philippine Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved the application of Belgium-based Janssen Pharmaceutica to conduct clinical trials in the country.
“‘Yung iba ay pino-proseso pa ng vaccine expert panel at saka yung single joint ethics review board bago ibigay sa FDA for processing,” he added.
(The other applications are still being processed by the vaccine expert panel and the single joint ethics review board before submitting it to FDA for processing.)
The said statement about Sinopharm’s request for clinical trials was revealed on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021, by two representatives of MKG Universal Drugs Trading Corporation, which claimed to be the “sole and exclusive” distributor in the country of the Sinopharm-developed vaccine.
According to one of the representatives, Sinopharm sent a letter to Duque’s office in the Department of Health (DOH) on May 26, 2020.
“Sumulat po and Sinopharm sa Pilipinas directly sa Department of Health. Ang nilalaman po ng sulat eh inviting the Philippines in collaboration for the clinical trial,” revealed one of the representatives who was only identified as “Juan.”
(Sinopharm sent a letter to the Philippines, directly to the Department of Health. It included an invitation for the Philippines to collaborate in the clinical trial.)
“As of now, walang any feedback. Nareceive po yan May 28, Office of the Secretary, Department of Health,” Juan added.
(As of now, there is no feedback from the DOH. The letter was received by the Office of the Secretary, Department of Health on May 28.)
The letter is crucial because according to Juan, Sinopharm was considering prioritizing the Philippines for their clinical trials. However, due to an alleged lack of response from the DOH and Duque, the vaccine developer decided to conduct clinical trials instead in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) around July to September.
“Dapat po talaga nauna ang Pilipinas, kaya lang sa tagal ng panahon, sa itinagal ng dokumento, eh medyo nadisappount si Sinopharm so nag divert siya, nagkaroon ng clinical trial sa UAE,” said the MKG representative.
(The Philippines was supposed to be the first choice for clinical trials, however since it took a long time to process the document, Sinopharm diverted and conducted their clinical trials in UAE.)
“‘Yun ang binigyan ng priority, which is dapat Pilipinas. Priority talaga ng Sinopharm ang Pilipinas mauna because of good relationship with China,” he added.
(UAE was given the priority, which was supposedly for the Philippines. Sinopharm prioritized the Philippines in the clinical trials because of the country’s good relationship with China.)
According to Juan and the other representative identified only as “Jose,” clinical trials in the UAE showed that the Sinopharm vaccine has an 86 percent effectivity rate.
Juan said they are still waiting for Sinopharm to fill-up the FDA application that they had sent.
Last December 26, President Rodrigo Duterte bared that many in the Philippines, including members of the military, were already inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año and Presidential Security Group (PSG) commander Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III would later confirm the President’s statement.
However, Año declined to identify the COVID-19 vaccine brand used by the PSG personnel although he explained that it was administered under an emergency use authorization (EUA).
The MKG representatives, on the other hand, clarified that they did not give vaccines to the PSG.
“The distribution of vaccines was undertaken for the benefit of PSG…MKG was not part of it,” said Juan.
“We at MKG are committed to following the regulations and permit and once all licenses and approval, like the emergency use authorization from FDA has been secured, that’s the only time that we will import and distribute Sinopharm vaccine to the Philippines and to potential buyers,” he continued.