Foreign Property News | Posted by Aye Myat Thu
The Singapore-based biotechnology company Tychan has started the third and final phase of its clinical trials on an antibody drug for patients with Covid-19, after it received the nod from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) in October.
The trials, which began on Friday (Dec 11), will involve 1,305 volunteers. The company is in the process of recruiting trial candidates.
Trials for the drug, known as TY027, will be done at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and National University Hospital (NUH). Patients may also check if they are suitable for the trials at Changi General Hospital and Sengkang General Hospital.
If so, they will be referred to SGH or NUH. Owing to the low incidence of the coronavirus in Singapore, the trials will also involve hospitals overseas, such as Israel’s Sheba Medical Centre.TY027 is being explored as a treatment for patients with Covid-19 to slow the progression of the disease and speed up recovery.
It could also provide temporary protection against infection from Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Infectious diseases expert OoiEngEong, who co-founded Tychan, told reporters in a video conference on Friday that the firm had chosen Israel as a partner because the country allows it to carry out studies in a similar fashion as Singapore.
Israel is also not overwhelmed by the pandemic and has the capacity to conduct the trials. Israel has recorded more than 352,000 Covid-19 cases and 2,960 deaths. Professor Ooi, who is also deputy director of Duke-NUS Medical School’s emerging infectious diseases programme, was unable to reveal the other countries Tychan is in talks with because of a non-disclosure agreement.
On why Tychan has to tie up with other countries to conduct the trials, Prof Ooi said that Singapore has been successful in containing Covid-19 and, thus, there are not enough suitable candidates.Candidates for the trial must be Covid-19 patients within the first six days of illness.
The lack of suitable trial volunteers in Singapore is also why Tychan had delayed moving into the third phase of clinical trials, even though media reports previously quoted Prof Ooi saying that they were slated to start in August.
TY027 has been in development since Feb 25. It is a partnership between Tychan and a stable of government departments, including the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Health and Economic Development Board.
Ref: todayonline
