A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, which was attended by scientists involved in the development of the original Ukrainian vaccine candidate against the coronavirus disease COVID-19.
"The developers presented to the head of state the results of the preclinical phase of research on the original Ukrainian vaccine candidate. These studies lasted for six months and include the presence of neutralization of the COVID-19 virus in the culture of infected human cells. This candidate of the original Ukrainian vaccine is created on the basis of a unique approach," the press service of the president reported on Tuesday.
At the meeting, they discussed who, when and in what terms will ensure the passage of clinical phases, as well as the logistics of future cooperation of all involved agencies to ensure the manufacture of the vaccine and its use in case of successful passage of all phases.
One of the developers — an international expert in the field of health care and epidemiology, Doctor of Medical Sciences Mikhail Favorov — noted that the current development suggests that the future drug will help fight new types of coronavirus infections that are constantly mutating. He also added that it is a very positive fact that so far in Ukraine there has been no jump in the death rate compared to the increase in the number of patients.
Zelensky noted the historicity of this meeting and development.
"I am very glad that this meeting took place. We are talking about high chances of developing our unique original Ukrainian vaccine against COVID-19, and about the first step towards restoring the production of vaccines in Ukraine. The government will support the development of this vaccine. The results you presented already show a positive trend," he said.
The Minister of Health of Ukraine, Maksym Stepanov, promised to contribute in every possible way to further steps in the passage of all subsequent phases.
"Details and further steps in the phases of vaccine research will be communicated in accordance with the possibilities of information disclosure," the press service of the president added.
