Bangavax gets ethical permission for human trial

Bangavax got ethical permission from Bangladesh Medical Research Council for the vaccine's human trial.

"We received ethical permission. Now we will submit the protocol to DGDA (Directorate General for Drug Administration) for clinical trial," Dr Md Mohiuddin, Globe Biotech Senior Manager (Quality and Regulation), told The Daily Star today.

On January 17, Globe Biotech, the only Bangladeshi company trying to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, submitted a protocol to the BMRC for ethical approval to conduct Bangavax's clinical trials.

On October 5 last year, the company announced that its first vaccine candidate had shown promise in pre-clinical trials on mice. Researchers initially named it "Bancovid" but later renamed it "Bangavax".

Bangavax, along with two other vaccine candidates developed by Globe Biotech, were included in the World Health Organization's draft landscape and tracker of Covid-19 vaccines in development worldwide, on October 17.

The company received permission from the Directorate General of Drug Administration to manufacture the necessary doses needed in a clinical trial on January 6 this year.