Clinical trials of Covid vaccine: Ufone joins hands with AJM Pharma for provision of info

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani telecom Company, Ufone, has joined hands with AJM Pharma (Pvt) Ltd to offer a reliable call centre solution where Centre's representatives will provide information related to the clinical trials of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine. People can access information about hospitals/research sites performing the clinical trials in the country, register themselves as volunteers for the trial and also get an online pre-screening by calling the helpline.

Ufone executed the entire process of call center deployment along with recruitment and training within a week that helped AJM Pharma in timely execution of their new project.

The vaccine candidate Ad5-nCoV, intended to prevent Covid-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, is jointly developed by CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology. AJM Pharma (Pvt) Ltd is the local representative of CanSinoBIO. The company is coordinating with the National Institute of Health (NIH) to initiate the Phase III Clinical Trial in Pakistan of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine (Adenovirus Type 5 Vector) (Ad5-nCoV).

With the start of second wave of Covid 19 in Pakistan, number of Coronavirus patients has significantly increased. Many areas all over the country are now once again entering smart lockdown. All global efforts are now centered towards finding an authentic vaccine which could prove to be an effective cure to this disease.

The CanSinoBIO vaccine has provided some glimmer of hope. A testament to successful clinical results, China's government has given approval for CanSinoBIO's Covid-19 vaccine to be used by its country's military.

CanSinoBIO is committed to making high quality vaccines accessible to people all over the world in a bid to pursue health and give relief in times of disease outbreaks; in wake of this mission they have joined hands with AJM Pharma, Pakistan. For over a decade, AJM Pharma has been specialising in the marketing and distributing of life saving drugs which include thalassemia, Oncology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Gynecology and Neonatology.

Phase I and Phase II studies demonstrate good safety and immunogenicity. CanSino Biologics has started phase III Clinical Trials in different countries including Pakistan where 10,000 volunteers will be recruited on the basis of eligibility criteria.

These clinical trials are in progress in five Research Centres including Shifa International Hospital Islamabad, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre Lahore, and University of Health Sciences Lahore, Aga Khan University Karachi and The Indus Hospital Karachi.

The development of the vaccine will be essential in the fight against Covid 19. Despite a difficult time, Pakistan fought back with great resilience during the first wave of the pandemic. Many organizations stepped forward to support the relief efforts and help as many people as possible. PTCL Group including Ufone has led the way forward in this regard; the company contributed Rs 1.9 billion including Rs 100 million to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and introduced many initiatives to amplify relief efforts.

The recent partnership between Ufone and AJM Pharma will allow millions of people, all over the country to get timely information and acquire relevant news related to the clinical trials.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020