BRITISH drug manufacturer AstraZeneca has withdrawn its application to hold clinical trials for its vaccine in the Philippines, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

It comes after the drug maker accepted a proposal from Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute to begin clinical trials of its AZD1222 vaccine alongside Sputnik V to study its efficacy since both use adenovirus vectors that contain the genetic material of the SARS-CoV2 virus spike protein.