Some 2,400 Covid-19 candidate vaccine viruses (CVVs) from Chinese biopharmaceuticals Sinovac Biotech have arrived in Indonesia.
By
KOMPAS TEAM
·5 minutes read
REUTERS/DADO RUVIC/FILE PHOTO
A small bottle labeled with a "Vaccine" sticker is held near a medical syringe in front of displayed "Coronavirus COVID-19" words in this illustration taken April 10, 2020.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Some 2,400 Covid-19 candidate vaccine viruses (CVVs) from Chinese biopharmaceuticals Sinovac Biotech have arrived in Indonesia. These candidate vaccines will be used in the third phase of the clinical trial, due to begin in August for a period of six months. Despite the hopeful progress, experts estimate that a vaccine will be developed by next year at the soonest.
President director Honesti Basyir of state-owned pharmaceuticals holding company Bio Farma said that the company had received the candidate vaccines from Sinovac on 19 July 2020. The candidate vaccines will undergo the third phase of clinical trials.
“If the third phase of the clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine goes smoothly, Bio Farma will develop the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021. We are readying a production facility with a maximum [output] capacity of 250 million doses,” he said on Monday (20/7/2020) in a written statement.
The importation of the CVVs was supported by the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, which assisted in processing the materials as diplomatic goods.
The CVVs must undergo several other phases prior to the clinical trial, including testing at the Bio Farma lab. The plan is to conduct testing at the clinical trials center of the Padjadjaran University medical school in Bandung. The testing will involve 1,620 research volunteers aged 18-59 years old who meet certain criteria.
The remaining CVVs will be used in tests at several other labs, including the Bio Farma lab and the National Food and Drug Testing Center.
An engineer displaying an experimental vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus that was tested at the Quality Control Laboratory at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing (29/4/2020).
The clinical trials for the Covid-19 candidate vaccine is sponsored by Bio Farma in collaboration with several other institutions, including the Health Ministry’s Health Research and Development Agency (Balitbangkes) as the medical advisor that will conduct the neutralizing antibody titer test. Bio Farma is also working with the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) as the regulator and medical schools in the vaccine clinical trial.
“The development of a Covid-19 vaccine is one of Bio Farma’s five scenarios for tackling the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Other scenarios include real-time polymerase chain reaction, convalescent plasma therapy, mobile BSL-3 laboratory and the development of viral transport medium,” said Honesti.
Indonesia’s need
Deputy chair Herawati Supolo Sudoyo of the Eijkman Institute of Moleculary Biology said that the phase three clinical trial was part of a short-term strategy to meet the need for a vaccine. “This is a success in diplomacy that must be appreciated. Other than the clinical trial in Indonesia, Sinovac is also holding trials in India and Brazil aside from in China,” she said.
The phase three clinical trial is part of a series of global trials being conducted in several countries. This is common in vaccine development.
Its involvement in the clinical trials means that Indonesia will be prioritized among vaccine producers once the clinical trial has produced successful results.
“In the first year of production in 2021, Sinovac will be able to produce 150 million doses, 20 million of which will be allocated to Indonesia,” Herawati added.
This undated handout photo provided by Imperial College London shows a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Scientists at Imperial College London will start immunizing people in Britain this week with their experimental coronavirus shot, becoming the latest entry into the race to find an effective vaccine. In a statement on Monday, June 15, 2020 the British government said that 300 healthy people will be immunized with two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed at Imperial College London, which has been backed by £41 million pounds ($51 million) in government funding.
However, the CVV clinical trial may not be successful. “There is a chance of failure, such as low effectiveness in Indonesia. It may not be suitable for China or other countries. All vaccines have risks, such as allergic reactions or hypersensitivity,” she said.
Other than the Sinovac CVV, two other candidate vaccines are also due for clinical trials in Indonesia. A local vaccine under development by the Eijkman Institute will be ready for preclinical studies in early 2021. “The local vaccine still has a long way to go, but we need to develop [one]. We have a huge need for the Covid-19 vaccine and we cannot rely on foreign countries,” Herawati said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) report on 15 July 2020 states that 160 Covid-19 candidate vaccines are under development in several countries. Some 26 CVVs are undergoing human trials. Among these is a candidate vaccine developed by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm that is currently undergoing a phase three clinical trial with 15,000 participants in the United Arab Emirates.
The local vaccine still has a long way to go, but we need to develop.
Another vaccine due for a phase three clinical trial on 27 July was developed by US biotechnology company Moderna, which has recruited 30,000 volunteers in the US. This clinical trial is to last until 27 Oct. 2022.
The prototype vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford will also enter phase three clinical trial following the publication of its phase one trial results The Lancet medical journal.
Other than vaccines, clinical trials are also being conducted on Covid-19 therapies. Daewoong Infion, a joint-venture pharmaceutical company of South Korea’s Daewoong Group, has obtained a permit from the Indonesian government to carry out its phase one clinical trial for its Covid-19 stem cell therapy in Indonesia. “We will complete the clinical trial,” Daewoong Infion clinical research manager Nova Angginy said in a press statement.
A patient receives a shot in the first-stage safety study clinical trial of a potential vaccine for COVID-19 at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle (16/3/2020). As the race for a vaccine against the new coronavirus intensifies, many rich countries are rushing to the front of the line by placing advance orders for the inevitably limited supply to guarantee their citizens are immunized first.
The world is now awaiting the development of effective vaccines and drug therapies to treat Covid-19. The disease caused by the coronavirus has infected more than 14 million people and killed almost 60,000 people worldwide.
In Indonesia, government spokesperson for Covid-19 Achmad Yurianto said that 14,027 specimens were tested on Monday (20/7) to bring the total number of specimens tested to 1,235,545. Of this figure, 1,693 specimens produced a positive test result, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Indonesia to 88,214. Jakarta has the largest number of active cases with 361 cases, followed by Central Java (354), East Java (237) and South Sulawesi (125).
In addition, the government recorded 1,576 recovered cases and 96 deaths, bringing the cumulative total to 46,977 recovered cases and 4,239 deaths.
Yurianto said that, based on contact tracing for confirmed cases, the majority of new Covid-19 cases were due to renewed activity at offices.
Office meetings were among “spreader” events for Covid-19. Therefore, meeting rooms must be well ventilated and physical distancing must be enforced between participants.
