Thailand approves 3.6 B Baht to develop local COVID-19 vaccines

The government of Thailand has approved a fund of 3,625 million baht for two Thai vaccine projects against COVID-19, ChulaCov19 mRNA and Baiya. Out of the amount, 2,316.8 million baht will be used for phase 3 clinical testing and production of the ChulaCov19 mRNA vaccine (by Chulalongkorn University), as well as for registration to be certified by the Food and Drug Administration. This project will enable Thailand to produce a COVID-19 vaccine for its own use. The research team recently announced the vaccine’s success in the first and second phases of human trials. Another 1,309 million baht will be used to support research and development of the Baiya vaccine project, conducted jointly by Chulalongkorn University and Baiya Phytopharm Company. It will be used for the project’s third-stage human trial on at least 10,000 volunteers, in accordance with the criteria set by the Food and Drug Administration. Baiya, a subunit vaccine, is a plantbased vaccine being developed by Baiya Phytopharm, a startup company under the CU Enterprise programme.