An organization called Globe Biotech Limited (GBL) has announced the discovery of the first coronavirus vaccine in Bangladesh that may prevent Covid-19 infection.
Claiming on Wednesday that it had found success in vaccinating animals, the company is now hoping to achieve success in human trials as well.
"It has been successful in the animal model. Now we hope it will work successfully in the human body as well," the head of the organization's Research and Development department Dr Asif Mahmood told The Business Post.
"We will now take the matter to the concerned departments of the government. We will then complete the next steps as per the guidelines given by them," Dr Mahmood added.
According to the NCBI virus database, 5,743 complete genome sequences have been submitted worldwide as of Tuesday. Of which 76 have been submitted from Bangladesh.
Globe Biotech Limited confirmed their ticker target by testing all the sequences submitted from Bangladesh by the Bioinformatics tool which they hope will be more effective in this geographical area.
The complete coding sequence of the given target has been submitted to the NCBI Virus Database in the United States which has already been recognized and published by the NCBI.
Globe Biotech Limited claimed that after a detailed analysis of the vaccine discovered in their laboratory, they have obtained satisfactory results in making appropriate antibodies by experimental application in laboratory animal models.
In this regard, the chairman of the Globe Biotech Limited Md Harunur Rashid said, "We are working to start a clinical trial to test the safety and effectiveness of this vaccine. We sincerely wish full cooperation from the government accordingly."
He further said that the details of the Covid-19 vaccine discovery of GBL will be announced at a press conference on Thursday at 12 noon.
Asked, the Assistant Director of the Department of Health (Health Emergency Operations Center and Control Room) Dr Ayesha Akhter told The Business Post, "We have not been informed yet."
The vaccine was discovered under the overall supervision of Kakon Nag, chief executive officer of GBL and chief operating officer Nazneen Sultana, the company said.
In addition to the research, GBL has started research activities related to the discovery of Covid-19 'identification kits, vaccines and medicines'.
Globe Biotech Ltd started its journey in 2015 by setting up state of the art laboratories for the production of biologics, novel drugs and biosimilars for the treatment of cancer, arthritis, anaemia, hypertension, autoimmune diseases and other incurable diseases.
