By Shakeel Ahmed
Islamabad: Falling Covid-19 infection numbers in Pakistan will not affect a Phase 3 clinical trial for a potential vaccine being developed by China’s CanSino Biologics , which is expected to begin this month, according to officials running the trial.
The official drug regulator last month gave the go-ahead for the country’s first Phase 3 clinical trial for CanSino’s candidate, Ad5-nCoV, which will be led by the National Institute of Health (NIH) along with pharmaceutical company AJM the local representative of CanSino.
“We are planning to launch the project on September 20, or at the latest within this month,” Hassan Abbas Zaheer, who is heading the trial for AJM, told Reporters. The Ad5-nCoV vaccine and placebo injections are due to be received next week. Daily positive cases in Pakistan peaked at more than 6,000 in June, but have since fallen sharply.
