PH mulling participation in global ‘solidarity trial’ for COVID-19 treatment
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government will study whether or not it will take part in the global “solidarity trial” comparing the safety and effectiveness of drugs against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the World Health Organization (WHO) has asked for the Philippines’ participation in the drug trials.
“Meron po tayong sasalihan, ‘yung solidarity trial for this drugs that we use now for COVID-19. Ito po ay pinag-aaralan, ito po ay inaalok sa atin ng World Health Organization at ating pinagaaralan kung sasali ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas para sa pagta-trial ng mga bagong gamot na sinusubkan na maaaring makapagbigay tugon sa COVID-19,” Vergeire said in a “public” briefing aired over state-run PTV.
(We are looking to join the solidarity trial for the drugs that we use now for COVID-19. It is being studied, it is being offered to us by the World Health Organization and we are studying whether the Philippine government will join the trial of new drugs that may address the COVID-19 pandemic.)
The trial, according to the WHO, includes more than 45 countries around the world and will “dramatically cut the time needed to generate robust evidence about what drugs work.”
The respiratory disease— first detected in Hubei province in China late last year—has so far infected over 720,000 worldwide, nearly 34,000 of whom have died. Meanwhile, almost 152,000 patients were able to recover.
In the Philippines, 1,418 have been infected with 71 deaths and 42 recoveries.
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