United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca has withdrawn its application to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines, Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo told the media.

The FDA chief, however, did not disclose the reason for the withdrawal.

Domingo clarified that despite the withdrawal on conducting clinical trials, AstraZeneca can still supply vaccines should it pass FDA approval.

AstraZeneca applied to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials in the Philippines which means that thousands of patients have to be inoculated with the potential vaccine ahead of mass rollout.

The pharmaceutical company had developed its vaccine with the University of Oxford. According to peer-review published in the journal The Lancet, the vaccine was 70% effective.

The Philippines recently secured 2.6 million doses of the vaccine through government and private sector partnership.