The Science, Technology, and Innovation Ministry (MOSTI) will be conducting clinical trials of two locally-produced vaccines. These vaccines are being developed under the Malaysian Genome and Vaccine Institute (MGVI), for cholera and nasopharyngeal cancer.
The clinical trials for the vaccines will be held in the United Kingdom and India next year. Aside from these two vaccines, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Dr Adham Baba also said that a local COVID-19 vaccine is also in the works through collaboration with Universiti Malaya.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a cancer that occurs in the nasopharynx, which is located behind your nose and above the back of your throat. According to the Ministry of Health, it is the fourth most common type of cancer in Malaysia, with smoking being one of the biggest risk factors.
Dr Adham also gave an update on the i-Breath, a COVID-19 breathalyzer test that detects infections from a person’s breath through their nose using AI. The screening device is now in the final pre-clinical phase and is expected to be commercialised by June 2022 after going through clinical trials. “We are targeting for this device to be used not only locally, but also internationally,” he added.
(Source: Bernama.)
