The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has allocated P419.3 million in the 2023 National Expenditure Program (NEP) for the research and development projects of the proposed Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines (VIP).
In a statement yesterday, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman affirmed that the fund allocation demonstrates the current government’s commitment to ensuring the health and safety of the Filipino citizenry.
“We need to be pro-active and fund for a Virology Institute composed of highly-trained experts who would conduct studies on emerging virus strains as quickly as possible and prepare us in case of health emergencies,” Pangandaman said.
In the 2023 NEP submitted to Congress, the DBM earmarked the amount for the different ongoing projects of the VIP.
At present, the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Industrial Technology Development Institute and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine spearhead the VIP’s medical and scientific undertakings.
These undertakings include: Isolation and Purification of Philippine Common Viruses with Medical Importance and Pandemic Potential for Antigen-Antibody Studies, Combination Therapy: Lytic Bacteriophages and Plant Extracts against Multidrug-resistant Bacteria, Detection of Food and Water-borne Bacterial Pathogens Using Phage-based Diagnostics, De Novo Synthesis of Non-infective Zika Pseudovirus as Reference for Diagnostics and Vaccines Development, Development of a Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for Point of Need Detection of African Swine Fever Virus, Development of PCR-based Detection Kit for Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus-Philippine Strains, and Antigenic Peptide VLPs as Potential Candidates for Covid-19 Vaccine Development.
For the construction of the building for VIP in Capas, Tarlac, an amount of P250 million is provided under the Department of Public Works and Highways budget in 2023.
DOST said that the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, a novel strain of the coronavirus, in 2020 highlighted the need for R&D capacities in virology research. Having a pool of highly-trained virology experts and appropriate facilities could have enabled local researchers to conduct studies on the virus as quickly as possible and guided authorities in implementing evidence-informed response strategies.
To better prepare the country for similar health emergencies, the creation of a research institute that specializes in virology research is a must. Responding to this need is one of the objectives of the VIP.
Following the establishment of a fully-operational VIP, the first five to six years of the Institute will focus on growing local expertise in virology research and building the body of research on virus strains and the diseases they cause in the country.
These efforts will serve as the foundation of applied research studies and the development of diagnostic kits, vaccines, and therapeutics not just for humans, but also for animal and plant diseases. In the same way, these initiatives will impact the agriculture sector by addressing viral diseases that affect crops and livestock that cause significant losses for local farmers.
Aside from generating knowledge and creating a local pool of experts, the VIP will also serve as a collaborative hub for both Filipino and foreign researchers. Its in-house virus gene bank, virus genome laboratory, and virus reference laboratory will be available for researchers to conduct innovative and pioneering virology research.
