Kathmandu, Nepal, August 25, 2020: The coronavirus (COVID-19) investigational vaccines developed in the world are being allowed for clinical trials in Nepal. The Nepal Health Research Center (NHRC), the government body responsible for the purpose, is going to allow three vaccines developed in three countries for the third phase of clinical trials.
After getting go-ahead signal from the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), the NHRC has started necessary preparations for phase III clinical trials for vaccines developed by researchers in the United Kingdom (UK), China, and Russia.
‘Covidshield’ a possible vaccine developed by Oxford University in UK, ‘Sputnik-V,’ another possible vaccine developed by Russia and a possible vaccine developed by Honghi Group in China would likely be allowed for clinical trials in Nepal. The NHRC, however, has not taken yet the official decision for the clinical trial.
According to Pradip Gyawali, member secretary at the NHRC, discussions are being held with the World Health Organization (WHO) about phase III trials of Covishield in Nepal. We will take decision within a week after Oxford University finalizes the clinical trial of Covishield in Nepal, he said.
However, he did not mentioned about the progress made about the clinical trial of vaccine developed in Russia and China. It is said that Nepal is formally requested by the China and Russia for the clinical trial of the COVID-19 possible vaccine.
The WHO has tracked more than 170 possible vaccines being developed in different parts of the world. Of them, according to the WHO, 138 are in pre-clinical stage – not tested in humans yet. Likewise, 25 are in phase I, 15 in phase II, and 7 in phase III of clinical trials.
