Facing huge healthcare costs and continued economic dislocation, Southeast Asian governments are scrambling to secure supplies of any future COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the ugly rush for the desperately needed serum. In the capitals of Southeast Asia, there is growing anxiety that they may be denied access to any vaccine not produced locally. The global production capability and capacity of biotech companies is limited, and rich countries may try to corner the available supply. The USA’s raid on remdesivir, a drug that speeds COVID-19 patient recovery, is an early warning of things to come.
Southeast Asia may appear to be a passive recipient of the international vaccine system. In truth, Southeast Asia hosts two of the world’s top 20 largest vaccine exporters: Indonesia and Singapore. Thailand is also a major manufacturer. Besides being major producers of vaccines, these three countries are now leading the region’s race to develop a home-grown COVID-19 vaccine. Other ASEAN countries can also play their part by getting involved in clinical trials for vaccine candidates. The region’s least developed countries—Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos—will look to their ASEAN partners for assistance in managing the pandemic.
Indonesia – going it alone
Chinese companies recently have pulled out of negotiations on COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials in Malaysia owing to the low level of cases in the country. China instead is looking further afield to more badly affected countries like Brazil. Malaysia had been eager to be involved in clinical trials, having established a vaccine ecosystem supported by Clinical Research Malaysia. Researchers at the Malaysian Genome Institute, National Public Health Laboratory, Institute for Medical Research and Universiti Malaya have successfully isolated the virus genome.
Human trials for a COVID-19 vaccine have begun. The initial trial involves around 100 healthy volunteers of various ages who will be injected with the Lunar-Cov19 vaccine developedby Duke-NUS Medical School
and US pharmaceutical company Arcturus Therapeutics ( 1 ).
Singapore-based firm to start human trials for potential coronavirus drug
The trial aims to test the safety of the vaccine and whether it can coax an immune response. Encouragingly, early animal studies have indicated that the Lunar-Cov19 vaccine is safe and has no significant side effects. The clinical trial is being conducted at the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit, located in Singapore General Hospital. Singapore’s partnership to develop a COVID-19 vaccine guarantees its right to use the vaccine.
Note: Clinical trials usually have three pre-approval phases, starting with a small group to test the drug’s safety and side effects, before moving on to larger groups to evaluate its efficacy. The discovery and research phase is normally 2-5 years; in total, a vaccine can take as long as 10 years to develop, at a cost of US$500 million (2).
Source: various local media reports
The Philippines – looking to China
President Duterte offered a P10 million reward (US$200,000) to any Filipino who can discover a vaccine against
the novel coronavirus ( 3 ).
Manila Bulletin.
Thailand – human trials leading to large-scale production
Even Vietnam, is planning to test a homemade COVID-19 vaccine on humans soon, having produced positive results in mice. VABIOTECH, a state-owned firm under the Ministry of Health, began developing the vaccine in February 2020, after the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) isolated and cultured the virus in the laboratory. Vietnam has a strong track record in producing vaccines for the local market. In 2013, it mass-produced vaccines in just six months to successfully contain a measles outbreak.
Retail pharmacy professionals are invaluable resources for treating both chronic and acute pain as they are frequently the first point of contact for patients seeking
The Frontier Brokers Network and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade present the Investing in Gender Equality podcast, in which social entrepreneurs from Asia-Pacific discuss the impact of gender lens investing on their businesses.
mClinica Pharmacy Solution’s digital pharmacy platform SwipeRx—the largest in Southeast Asia connecting over 200,000 pharmacy professionals and students across 6 countries—is being leveraged to address
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to know the latest healthcare news in Southeast Asia!
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to know the latest healthcare news in Southeast Asia!
