This undated file photo shows vials of Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd may start COVID-19 vaccine trials in the Philippines before the end of the year, the chief of the Southeast Asian nation’s food and drug agency said.

China’s Sinovac has passed the review of a vaccine experts panel to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials and is expected to submit as early as this week its application with the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration, Eric Domingo, the agency’s director general, said in a virtual briefing Thursday

Sinovac has passed the review of a vaccine experts panel to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials and is expected to submit as early as this week its application with the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration, Eric Domingo, the agency’s director general, said in a virtual briefing Thursday. The approval process may take 21 days, he said.

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Other testings, including the World Health Organization’s “solidarity trial” where the Philippines is a participant, may also start before the end of 2020, said Domingo.

President Rodrigo Duterte late Wednesday said vaccines from China and Russia will be prioritized, adding that Moscow has expressed intention to set up a pharmaceutical plant in the Philippines.

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