Bangladesh’s breakthrough in producing Covid-19 vaccine

Publish: 9:12 PM, October 8, 2020 | Update: 9:12 PM, October 8, 2020

It should make every Bangladeshi’s heart bulge with pride on knowing that a company of Bangladeshi origin is on the threshold of successfully making and marketing a vaccine against Covid – 19. Earlier this company was reported for being among the top five or six most formidable countries in the world in terms of all round capabilities which were in the race to find a corona virus vaccine. That a developing country like Bangladesh could dare to be included in this race was a surprise. But it also puts Bangladesh in the limelight as a country with a very well developed pharmaceutical industry to be able to take on such a venture.

Already, another Bangladesh company is exporting an important Corona virus treatment medicine to USA and some other countries. Companies from Bangladesh are also playing a role in making and selling to other countries masks, personal protective equipment (PPP) and even ventilators. Now, the news of an effective Corona vaccine from Bangladesh should make us all very proud of our country in respect of finding solutions to top most global problems.

Claiming that they have got very promising results from pre-clinical trials on rabbits and mice of the coronavirus vaccine styled ‘BNCOVID’ developed by it, Bangladesh’s Globe Biotech Ltd recently disclosed they want to bring it to the market by January next if they are allowed to launch the first phase of human trials very soon.

Globe Biotech said they have completed all the necessary preparations for making their vaccine initiative a success, but they said everything now depends on the government’s cooperation in helping to complete the required processes.”We hope the government will stand beside us and assist us in every necessary area. If we all can make collective efforts, we hope, we’ll be able to start giving our vaccine to people across Bangladesh by January next,”, Chairman of Globe Biotech, told a press conference at a city hotel recently.

He said pre-clinical trials suggest that their vaccine is as promising as the other leading corona vaccine candidates in the world. “If we can now make united efforts, we can export the vaccine to all over the world alongside meeting the local demand,”he said.

Needless to say, this is a huge opportunity for Bangladesh. The entire population of the world would need to be vaccinated. In this situation, if Bangladesh can win a small part of the global market for corona vaccine, this would yield a magnificent amount for the country in foreign currencies. Thus, it should be the patriotic duty of all to help out to clear all stages in marketing the Bangladesh produced vaccine. It must not be allowed to be just another endeavor fizzled out by bureaucratic procrastination and vested interests of foreign and local groups.

Stating that the government has set aside Tk 10,000 crore for the corona vaccine, the Chairman of Global Biotech said said they will be able to earn many times over this amount if only the government extends the necessary support to them.”Developing a vaccine is a daunting task. But our team worked hard and made an impossible job possible. We’ve built a cent percent foundation for the vaccine as we’re now at the stage of conducting phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials,” he observed.

He urged the government and the regulatory body, including DGDA, to allow them to conduct the clinical trials of the vaccine as soon as possible. “We believe our vaccine will turn out to be one of the effective vaccines in the world and we’ll be able to save many lives. But we need government patronage to make it possible.” The Chairmanof Globe Biotech also said: “Importing coronavirus vaccines from abroad is surely going to be very expensive, whenever that happens. We can’t yet say what the exact price of our solution will be. But it would surely be much cheaper in a comparative sense.”