Anti-cancer drug excluded from WHO solidarity trials in PH – DOH

MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) will no longer include an anti-cancer drug in its solidarity trials in the Philippines for possible COVID-19 treatment, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

“‘Yung Acalabrutinib, hindi, hindi siya matutuloy, nagbigay na ng recommendation ang WHO. It’s not going to be part of the solidarity trials anymore,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual media forum.

(Acalabrutinib will no longer be included. The WHO has already made its recommendation. It will not be part of the solidarity trials anymore.)

Vergeire said acalabrutinib has not yet been administered to anyone here in the country for the trials.

“Dumating ‘yung acalabrutinib dito actually, kaya lang biglang nagstop na nga ‘yung, sinabi na ng WHO na hindi na natin isasali. So itong acalabrutinib ay gagawan ng disposal mechanism para magkaroon ng final na disposition itong mga dumating sa atin na mga gamot,” she said.

(Acalabrutinib has been delivered here in the country, but WHO said it should not be included. So there will be a disposal mechanism to be conducted on the acalabrutinib drug that was delivered here in the country.)

The DOH announced in October that the WHO has included acalabrutinib, a chemotherapeutic drug, in its solidarity trials for possible COVID-19 treatment.

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the clinical trials for remdesivir as a potential COVID-19 treatment would continue. The DOH earlier said that WHO needed more data to support its initial findings that the antiviral drug did little or had not helped in reducing deaths among infected patients.

“Sabi ng WHO, dapat ituloy pa rin kasi (WHO said it should be continued, because) by doing that we can have more participants enrolling we can still see the effects maybe in a larger group of population kaya tinutuloy pa rin ang remdesivir trial (that’s why the remdesivir trials are still being continued),” Vergeire said.

“Although ang sinasabi nga ng initial results, wala pang effect but WHO still recommends to continue because they are saying we might have different result na makikita pag bigger na ‘yung population ng participants,” she added.

(Initial results say there is no effect but WHO still recommends continuing it because they are saying we might have different results once there is a bigger population of participants.) — Zac Sarao, trainee