IVI and the Philippines
IVI Member State
5 November 1996: Ambassador of the Philippines to the United Nations, H.E. Felipe Mabilangan, signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.
2 February 2004: The Senate of the Philippines passed Senate Resolution No.105 S04, ratifying the IVI Establishment Agreement.
27 February 2004: The Philippines deposited an Instrument of Ratification with the United Nations, which entered into force on 1 March 2004.
Ongoing Collaboration
COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA)
Beginning in 2021, IVI is partnering with SK bioscience of South Korea to conduct Phase III clinical trials of SK bioscience’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Ukraine, and Korea in an effort to accelerate the development of much-needed “Wave 2” vaccines.
Funding for this Phase III study has been provided by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Additionally, IVI, SK, and the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) signed an agreement to jointly conduct antibody testing for the global Phase III trials.
Based on the promising interim data from Phase I/II clinical trials, SK bioscience has formed the COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA) and is working with IVI on global Phase 3 trials of the vaccine. The aim of this consortium is to make the GBP510 vaccine available worldwide with WHO prequalification (PQ) / WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL). IVI and SK bioscience will jointly conduct the clinical trials, while SK proceeds with preparations to achieve WHO PQ and emergency use authorization (EUA) in individual countries.
Previous Collaboration
Typhoid Vaccine Program
The Philippines is playing a major role in the ongoing development of IVI’s typhoid conjugate vaccine (Vi-DT) with SK Bioscience. Working with the Philippines FDA and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) IVI successfully completed phase I & II clinical trials of the vaccine, and phase III studies have been ongoing since 2019.
Dengue Vaccine Analysis
In 2017, IVI’s Global Dengue and Aedes-Transmitted Diseases Consortium (GDAC) provided consultative support to the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (NIH) to initiate a cohort study in 3,000 children in Cebu province, Philippines just prior to the public introduction of Dengvaxia in the province. This cohort was unique because the dengue-primed status of the cohort children was able to be determined prior to vaccine administration. Dengvaxia has been determined to induce increased risk of hospitalized and severe dengue in vaccine recipients. With funds from the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), IVI is working with collaborators in the Philippines to investigate concerns about potential disease enhancement in dengue naïve vaccine recipients, as well as the impact of Japanese Encephalitis and Zika infections on test results.
Cholera Vaccine Program
In 2017, IVI carried on a clinical phase IV study of the Euvichol oral cholera vaccine (OCV), made by EuBiologics after technology transfer of the vaccine from IVI, as part of a WHO PQ bridging study. Testing of samples for 442 subjects and a subset of 90 samples were carried out for immunological assessment and showed an effective immunological response.
Respiratory Pathogen Vaccine program
From 2007 to 2011, IVI helped conduct a multi-country, hospital-based disease burden study to define the incidence and serotype distribution of pneumonia in Asia. The effort, named PneumoNet, enrolled nearly 6,000 subjects at 3 study sights in urban areas of the Philippines, and demonstrated that pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among urban children in the Philippines. The surveillance data supported the expectation that widespread immunization would decrease pneumonia disease burden in the Philippines.
Tuberculosis Vaccine Program
From 2007 to 2011 IVI conducted a tuberculosis (TB) surveillance program to generate accurate epidemiologic data on TB in 9 communities in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province. IVI collaborated with the Philippines Ambulatory Physicians Association (PAPA) and the local government on data analysis, and 223 subjects were enrolled in the program. 43 cases presented to the health care facility were positive of having at least one household contact with signs and symptoms of TB.
IVI Vaccinology Course
Since 2002, Over 35 Philippine scientists and physicians have received training in IVI’s annual Vaccinology Course.