Bangladeshi Firm Applies For Local Vaccine Human Trial

A Bangladeshi medical firm on Sunday submitted an application for conducting clinical trials of a locally produced COVID-19 vaccine on the human body.

The Globe Biotech Limited has submitted the application to the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, the country's main autonomous health regulatory body under the Health Ministry.

"We are fully prepared to conduct trials on the human body now after successfully completing the trials on animals," Dr. Asif Mahmud, in-charge of the firm's Molecular and Cell Biology unit and assistant manager, told Anadolu Agency.

This is the only local medical firm that has developed a COVID-19 vaccine, which is named Bongavax.

"It is another milestone for Bangladesh since it will be the first instance of using any locally produced vaccine in the country's history," Mahmud said. "We are eagerly waiting for a final decision by the government, and are hopeful for the necessary support in this revolutionary development."

Meanwhile, the South Asian delta nation of 165 million people is expected to get at least five million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from India by Jan. 25.

Bangladesh will get a total of 30 million shots from Bharat Biotech, which is producing the vaccine, in six phases.

It also plans to conduct clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine by China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd, according to Dr. ABM Khurshid Alam, the country's health chief.

As many as 527,063 infections and 7,883 deaths have so far been confirmed. -