Sinopharm’s EUA application now under FDA review

MADE IN CHINA The Beijing Institute of Biological Products claims the Sinopharm vaccine is 79 percent effective. —REUTERS

MANILA, Philippines — China state-owned firm Sinopharm has applied for its Covid-19 vaccine’s emergency use authorization (EUA) in the Philippines, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed Tuesday.

FDA Director General Eric Domingo said they are in the process of reviewing Sinopharm’s documents.

“An online application was filed yesterday afternoon and the FDA is checking the contents of the submission now,” Domingo told INQUIRER.net in a text message.

It was presidential spokesperson Harry Roque who announced Sinopharm’s application for an EUA, but the FDA was not able to confirm it immediately.

Roque has said Sinopharm’s vaccine is the one preferred by President Rodrigo Duterte. It was also endorsed by Duterte’s special envoy to China Ramon Tulfo, who had recently admitted to having received vaccine jobs in October, along with other unnamed Cabinet officials.

The FDA has so far given an EUA to only three vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac.

Meanwhile, the EUA application of India’s Bharat Biotech and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute remain under evaluation.

EDV