The preclinical phase of trials of the Ukrainian vaccine candidate against COVID-19 has been completed and it has good prospects, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Thursday
KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) The preclinical phase of trials of the Ukrainian vaccine candidate against COVID-19 has been completed and it has good prospects, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said on Thursday.
The press service of the Ukrainian president's office reported earlier that the results of the preclinical phase of trials of the Ukrainian coronavirus vaccine had been presented to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. International health and epidemiology expert, the president of DiaPrep System Inc. Mikhail Favorov, who is one of the developers of the vaccine, expressed hope that Ukraine could have a working coronavirus vaccine in 9-12 months.
"On Tuesday, jointly with research scientists we presented the work that lasted six months on developing and conducting preclinical phase of the vaccine against COVID-19. This phase consists of several big stages. We can say that it has been concluded, and within the framework of this preclinical phase, it was found that this vaccine candidate has quite good prospects. The virus is being neutralized," Stepanov said.
According to him, the vaccine was jointly developed by a consortium of US companies and Ukrainian scientists.
"Due to the fact that we have completed this phase, now we need to start the clinical phase. It will be started with the full support of the state in terms of financing of all processes," the minister added.
Ukraine has confirmed over 320,000 cases of COVID-19 and over 6,000 fatalities since the start of the pandemic. Earlier in October, Ukraine's cabinet tightened lockdown restrictions in the country due to the worsening epidemiological situation and an increase in coronavirus-related infections.
