LAHORE: A local institute of higher learning in Pakistan announced on Friday that the provincial administration of Punjab was planning to launch human trials of its indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine in September, saying it had already performed similar tests on rabbits to judge the vaccine's efficacy.
Speaking to Arab News, the top official at the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Lahore said Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had asked his institution to locally develop a COVID-19 vaccine about three months ago.
“We have tested it on rabbits and the results are expected in 15 days,” Dr. Tahir Yaqub, director at the microbiology institute, said. “We will also perform a similar trial on monkeys and keep them under observation for 45 days. Once we get satisfied, we will hand over the vaccine to the Punjab authorities to carry out human trial in August or September.”
Asked about the project funding, Yaqub said the chief minister had approved Rs100 million.
“Until now, we have used about Rs10 million in research and development,” he added. “We will ask for more money when we decide to scale up the project.”
Discussing the production capacity of the vaccine after its approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, he said it was possible to produce about three million doses per month in the presence of uninterrupted financial assistance.
“Right now, with the given expertise, we will be able to produce one million doses every month after the vaccine approval from DRAP,” Yaqub claimed.
The provincial administration of Punjab says it is fully supporting the vaccine preparation process and is optimistic to get the desired results.
“The world is using six different technologies to prepare coronavirus vaccines,” said Nabil Awan, specialized health care and medical education secretary who is monitoring the project. “We are preparing the vaccine in line with the Chinese Sinopharm. It may have less immunogenicity, but it is the safest vaccine.”
Asked about the human trial, Awan said it would be conducted on three levels before the final product was brought to the market. He maintained he was fully confident that the university would come up with a good product.
Previously, the local institute of learning also helped the provincial administration with its virus-related lockdown decisions in Lahore.
“It adopted the strategy of detecting the presence of virus by undertaking sewerage analysis for the first time in Pakistan to identify the areas that were most affected,” Yaqub informed. “The provincial government consults our data before imposing lockdowns in various parts of the city.”