DRAP seeks opinion on generic medicines registration
National
May 12, 2021
Islamabad: Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) Tuesday decided to take initiative on the issue of registration of a generic basis for all single-ingredient drugs in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
In this regard DRAP’s Division of Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Registration has sought an opinion from stakeholders on generic medicines, an official of DRAP said. He said that DRAP’s initiative on this matter is in compliance with the law for generic medicines like the Drugs Act 1976 and rules framed there under which is part of the DRAP Act 2012 under Schedule -VI.
ISLAMABAD, May 8 (Gwadar Pro) - Pakistan has started the formulation and packing of China’s CanSino Bio vaccine at National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.
Federal Minister Asad Umar confirmed the development in a tweet and said, “The first batch of bulk CanSino vaccine being processed at the National Institute of Health [at a] plant set up for this purpose last month. [A] Specially trained team [is] working on it.” The vaccine would be available for use by the end of May after going through “rigorous quality control checks,” he added.
According to an official of NIH, the raw materials for the vaccine have been imported from China while a team of Chinese experts is present in Islamabad to help in the preparation of vaccines. “We have enough raw material to prepare up to 120,000 doses of Cansino,” the official added.
Punjab runs out of CanSino, Sinovac COVID-19 shots
Only Sinopharm vaccines available SAMAA | Daniyal Umer Posted: May 7, 2021 | Last Updated: 9 hours ago
People await their turn for vaccination at a centre in Samanabad, Faisalabad. Photo: Online
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The Punjab government has stopped administering Chinese-made Cansino and Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines after the province exhausted its supply of both shots.
Some doses of the double-dose Sinovac vaccine (CoronaVac) have been saved for those people who already got their first dose.
Supplies of the single-dose Cansino vaccine (Convidecia) have completely run out.
Punjab had received 30,000 doses of Convidecia from the National Command and Operation Centre. These were being administered to people above 60 years. Now they are being given the double-dose Sinopharm vaccine.
Pakistan Officially Begins Local Production of COVID-19 Vaccine
National Institute of Health (NIH) has started the local manufacturing of CanSinoBIO’s COVID-19 vaccine after importing the raw material from China.
According to a statement by NIH, the raw material imported from the neighboring country is sufficient to produce 120,000 doses, which will be available for use by the end of May.
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Last month, NIH had announced to start local production of CanSinoBIO’s vaccine in May.
About CanSinoBIO’s Vaccine
Known as Ad5-nCoV, CanSinoBIO developed the Coronavirus vaccine in collaboration with the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology and tested it in large-scale phase-III clinical trials that were held in five countries, including Pakistan, in which more than 40,000 volunteers participated.