The government today (July 17, 2022) approved phase I clinical trial of Bangavax, a homegrown coronavirus vaccine developed by Globe Biotech.

Bangladesh Medical Research Council (BMRC), Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have approved for the first phase of clinical trials.

"We got the approval for phase I clinical trial of Bangavax today," Mohiuddin, manager (quality and regulation) of Globe Biotech Ltd, told The Daily Star this evening.

The trial will start soon, he informed.

Dr Mamun Al Mahtab, chairman of Department of Hepatology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, is overseeing the trial which will take place at BSMMU.

The trial will be conducted among 60 healthy volunteers as per the direction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Among the volunteers, 30 are aged between 18 to 55 years while 30 other volunteers are above 55 years old.

With this, Bangladesh now joins the elite group of 9 countries in the world with mRNA vaccine capability next to USA, Canada, Japan, India, China, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

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