RUSSIA WILLING TO SHARE VACCINE TECHNOLOGY WITH PH
RUSSIA is willing to share with the Philippines its technology in the manufacture of a vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid- 19), Ambassador Igor Khovaev said.
He added that the technology transfer could be one of the promising projects between the two countries.
Russia has developed three Covid-19 vaccines — Sputnik V, named after the first Russian satellite which signified “breakthrough,” by Gamaleya Institute; EpiVac Corona by the epidemiological laboratory in the Siberian City of Novosibirsk; and an unnamed vaccine created by another Russian research institute.
“I would like to remind you that Russia is the only country which offers not only to sell vaccine, but also to produce it here in the Philippines because we believe that if the vaccine is produced locally it would be for each and every Filipino,” Khovaev told The Manila Times in an interview.
“As of today brilliant Russian scientists [have] invented three vaccines, Sputnik V is the first one. Now we have three vaccines. And we want to have as many vaccines as possible because each and every vaccine can be more efficient on circumstances and less efficient on other conditions,” he said.
The envoy noted that every vaccine had to undergo clinical trials.
“But in our view, all of them are safe and efficient and we are ready to share our technologies with any interested country. But the vaccine which had
already been tested in the largest scale is Sputnik V. That’s why we propose that this vaccine should be applied, should be used here in the Philippines,” he added.
“We are ready to share our technology whether to give an access to our sophisticated technologies to our Philippine partners in order to produce the vaccine jointly here on Philippine soil,” the Russian envoy said.
“We are not jealous. And we are not scared of any competition. We are highly competetitive and we offer in terms of vaccine what we are using in our own country — it’s not a dream. It’s a product that exists,” he pointed out.
Asked whether Russian investors would want to put up a pharmaceutical plant in the country, Khovaev said, “Yes, so Russian investors and Russian technologies can come to the Philippines.”
“We need reliable business partners here in the Philippines to combine the efforts and to put up manufacturing of Russian vaccine here,” he continued.
“But everything should be done step by step and in full compliance with all relevant Philippine
domestic rules. So, the first step should be joint clinical trials on the final phase — phase 3,” Khovaev said.
The ambassador said jointly holding clinical trials would dispel doubts on the safety and efficiency of the Russian vaccine.
“So, now we are closely working with your Department of Science and Technology so we have here the goods, [you] give us contacts. So, the Department of Science and Technology told us [they are going] to provide 1,000 Philippine volunteers for joint clinical trials here in the Philippines,” Khovaev added.
He said Russia is waiting for the post assessment report of the DoST on the research papers on the result of the clinical trials - phase 1 and phase 2 - conducted on the Sputnik V vaccine.
“If their assessment is positive, we hope so, it will pave the way for launching joint clinical trials on the final phase — phase 3,” Khovaev said.
The ambassador acknowledged that testing procedures should be in accordance with the policies of the Department of Health and Food and Drug Administration.
“Everything should be done in accordance with your domestic procedures. But we believe that all procedures should be implemented as quickly as possible because first of all it’s about millions and millions of lives,” he said.
Khovaev bared that one of the Russian vaccines had already been tested on a daughter of President Vladimir Putin. “The Russian vaccine has already been tested on many members of the Russian government. The vaccination in Russia had already started.”
He clarified that the vaccine trial was done and at least 40,000 people were vaccinated.
“That’s why we speak of combining efforts in terms of vaccine. It shouldn’t be unfair competition. It should be a reason for combining effort because Covid-19 is our common enemy and it can be defeated only provided that we combine our efforts,” he said.
“All of us, all countries — big or small it doesn’t matter. That’s why we sincerely wish other research institutes success in their efforts aimed at inventing their vaccines,” Khovaev said.