Havana, March 18 (RHC)--  Cuba has two COVID-19 vaccine candidates in phase III of clinical trials after the regulatory authority on Thursday approved Abdala to pass to that stage.

According to a message on Twitter, the BioCubaFarma pharmaceutical company confirmed the approval,  issued by CECMED, the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices,  'is based on a rigorous evaluation of this candidate's results in phase I and II clinical trials.'

Abdala is one of the vaccine projects under development at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

The final phase study of Abdala will begin in the next few days in Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo provinces and includes 48,000 volunteers between the ages of 19 and 80 who have given their consent.

Its objective is to evaluate the efficacy and continue demonstrating the drug's safety,  BioCubaFarma said on its website.

Since March 3, Soberna02 has become the first Latin American vaccine candidate against Covid-19 to begin the Phase III clinical trial.

It is a Finlay Vaccine Institute project, and the most advanced of the five being candidates processed in Cuba. The trial includes the participation of 40,010 volunteers in eight municipalities of Havana.