Vaccines, antivirals vs. COVID-19 in development —PHAP

The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) said Saturday that more than 20 vaccines and a number of antiviral medicines are in development worldwide as the global pharmaceutical industry works to find a cure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The PHAP, a member of the Geneva-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), said in a statement that the local industry is also scaling up capacity of diagnostics for testing for COVID-19 patients.

It said that the industry commits to accelerate its effort to use “its skills, technology and resources to bring safe, effective diagnostics, treatments and vaccines to patients as a matter of urgency.”

“We are seeing an unprecedented response on the part of the pharmaceutical industry to help put an end to this pandemic. As a science driven sector, we are in the unique position to partner with the government and the healthcare community to support efforts in this time of health crisis. We support government efforts, and recognize the immense role of our healthcare workers and the people in the pharmaceutical sector who are dedicating and risking their lives to contain this pandemic,” PHAP president and MSD Philippines president Dr. Beaver Tamesis said.

On vaccine development, experts are hoping it will take as little as 12 to 18 months before there is a vaccine available, according to PHAP.

The IFPMA, representing the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies,  estimates that this is a best-case estimate that assumes one or two of the first few vaccines that enter development will be successful, the group said.

In non-pandemic environments, only approximately one in ten experimental vaccines make it all the way through to regulatory approval.

“In its update, the IFPMA also said that there are nearly 80 clinical trials for experimental new treatments and vaccines in development for coronaviruses including COVID-19, Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, SARS and MERS,” PHAP said.

“As of today, there are at least 14 companies with a medicine for COVID-19 in early phase research, 4 companies with a medicine in Phase I of development and 3 in Phase II, and one company has a medicine in Phase III trials,” it said.

Potential treatments include both antiviral medicines and immunotherapies, according to PHAP.

Pharmaceutical companies that are undertaking massive research for COVID-19 treatments have presence in the Philippines. These are AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Takeda.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies engaged in the research and development of vaccines operating in the Philippines are GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Sanofi. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News