The person passionate about the Nanocovax vaccine has passed away.

The person passionate about the Nanocovax vaccine has passed away - Photo 1.

Mr. Ho Nhan participates in the research process of Nanocovax vaccine - Photo: DN

Mr. Nhan is also known as one of the pioneering entrepreneurs in the field of biotechnology in Vietnam, associated with the journey of researching and developing the Nanocovax vaccine - one of the COVID-19 vaccine research projects in Vietnam during the pandemic outbreak.

Vietnam Vaccine Research

In mid-2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet been "named and shamed", several major pharmaceutical companies in the world announced that they would start developing vaccines to prevent the disease. In Vietnam, four vaccine manufacturers also announced their participation in this journey, including Nanogen Company.

Just one year later, two of the four above-mentioned units had vaccines in the human testing phase, including Nanocovax of Nanogen Company entering phase 3 of human testing. Nanocovax vaccine is developed using recombinant protein technology - a relatively new technology compared to the vaccine production level in Vietnam.

At the end of 2020, the Ministry of Health allowed Nanocovax to conduct human trials. On December 17, 2020, the vaccine began its first experimental injection with three volunteers. In July 2021, phase 3b trials began with 12,000 participants.

As of August 29, 2021, the second meeting to evaluate the phase 3 clinical trial of the Nanocovax vaccine by the Biomedical Research Ethics Council said that through monitoring seven days after the first injection of 11,430 volunteers and seven days after the second injection of 5,785 volunteers, Nanocovax met the requirements for short-term safety up to this point.

At that time, a representative of Nanogen Company affirmed that so far in Vietnam, no private company has researched a vaccine with more than 13,000 test samples, especially this is a COVID-19 vaccine.

During the two-year (about 16-month) testing phase, the company must provide scientific evidence to convince all members of the Ethics Council. And if approved, Nanogen can produce 10 million doses/month, expected to be upgraded to about 30 million doses/month by January 2022.

Volunteers who have registered to receive the Nanocovax vaccine trial hope that the vaccine will soon be put into use, affirming the capacity of the Vietnamese health sector.

"At that time, during the tense epidemic period, I volunteered to get the Nanocovax vaccine with the desire to protect my health and hope that the vaccine would soon be widely administered to the people, controlling the epidemic.

After the injection, I went to check my antibody concentration, the result was that the vaccine had antibodies as high as some popular vaccines injected into people at that time" - a volunteer with Nanocovax vaccine in Ho Chi Minh City shared with Tuoi Tre.

Great contribution

Also in June 2021, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh led a Government delegation to work with Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company (Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park), after the company requested emergency licensing of the Nanocovax vaccine.

According to the Prime Minister, producing vaccines domestically will simultaneously reduce transportation costs and be completely proactive.

According to him, to have a vaccine, we must go in many directions and not only the COVID-19 vaccine but also many other types of vaccines.

Mr. Ho Nhan said that Nanocovax vaccine is one of 15 vaccines from 15 countries entering clinical phase 3, with technology owned by the research company. Current production capacity can reach 8 - 12 million doses/month and can reach 30 - 50 million doses/month with a selling price of 120,000 VND, "the lowest in the world" and this price will not change.

By the end of 2021, the National Council of Ethics in Biomedical Research approved the protective efficacy of Nanocovax. Through phase 2 and 3 trials, the research team assessed the vaccine's protective efficacy against severe disease progression at 92% and protective efficacy against death at 100%, paving the way for consideration of marketing authorization.

By February 2022, the Government Office had issued Notice No. 1027/PCP-KGVX to the Ministry of Health regarding the licensing of the Nanocovax vaccine. This notice requested the Ministry of Health to urgently consider and process the request for licensing the Nanocovax vaccine in accordance with regulations, and at the same time report the implementation results to the Prime Minister.

However, since then there has been no official information about the licensing of the Nanocovax vaccine.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre , a leading expert in the field of epidemiology and molecular biology said that the Nanocovax vaccine project is Mr. Ho Nhan's great passion.

During the tense COVID-19 pandemic, the fact that private enterprises are pioneering in producing domestic vaccines like Nanocovax is very welcome. In fact, through trials with a large number of participants, it has shown the level of safety when injected into humans.

What is special is that the Nanocovax vaccine uses advanced technology, recombinant protein. This is a new technology that very few countries in the world can do, but it brings high safety to the vaccinated person, leaving few consequences. To do this technology is not simple.

"Although the vaccine has not been licensed for circulation, pioneering research on a domestic vaccine during the pandemic is a great effort and contribution of Mr. Ho Nhan," the expert said.

Pioneer in pharmaceutical industry production

Dr. Ho Nhan was born in 1966 in Thu Duc City (HCMC). He has a solid academic background with a doctorate from the University of Arizona (USA).

With the desire to contribute to his homeland, he returned to Vietnam in 2006 to begin his journey to build a foundation of modern pharmaceutical biotechnology science and has achieved many important achievements.

Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Joint Stock Company, under his leadership as Chairman of the Board of Directors, has become one of the pioneers in pharmaceutical biotechnology production in Vietnam.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to pioneering the research and production of the Nanocovax vaccine, in 2010, Mr. Ho Nhan officially launched the Pegnano drug to treat hepatitis B and C, produced by Nanogen Company, on the market.

Producing Pegnano at a cheaper price than foreign drugs (when it reaches patients, depending on the type, the price of Pegnano is 1.5-1.9 million VND/dose of 180mcg) helps people in low-income groups in society have medicine to treat and prevent the spread of hepatitis in the community.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nguoi-tam-huyet-voi-vac-xin-nanocovax-da-ra-di-20250514082225267.htm