“The approval to conduct the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine, developed by Chinese company Sinovac Research and Development Co Ltd, will be informed formally within two to three days,” BMRC Director Dr Mahmood-uz-Jahan told UNB.

About a month ago, icddr,b applied to BMRC for permission to conduct Covid-19 vaccine’s phase-3 clinical trial in Bangladesh, he said adding that their application has been approved today.

“We went through their application and reviewed it,” he added.

However, this approval is not the end, icddr,b will have to follow some other procedures and get permissions from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), Dr Jahan added.

Also read: Bangladesh now '16th worst' corona-hit country

Covid-19 pandemic and icddr,b’s response  

With a particular focus on health and wellbeing of the people of Bangladesh, icddr,b has been actively monitoring the development of coronavirus pandemic since December.

Being a part of National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19, icddr,b has been providing technical supports to the government on the prevention of novel coronavirus infections, improvement of quality of health services in hospitals and vaccine research.

NTAC was formed in April 2020 in Bangladesh during the pandemic.

Earlier on June 17, icddr,b started a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of anti-parasitic medicine Ivermectin in combination with antibiotic doxycycline or Ivermectin alone.

Later on June 26, icddr,b’s globally recognised diagnostic centre at Mohakhali, Dhaka offered SARS CoV-2 test to patients suspected of having COVID-19.

Also read: Coronavirus: Bangladesh registers over 100 deaths in 3 days