MANILA - A Filipino-Israeli pharmaceutical firm is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in the country for its oral COVID-19 vaccines and other medicines, Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Charito Plaza said Wednesday.

The PEZA board will approve the application of the company which intends to locate its COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hub in the country, Plaza told ANC.

"Next week when we will have the PEZA board meeting, we are going to approve (the) application of an Israeli-Filipino pharmaceutical company where they’re going to locate manufacturing of COVID vaccines which is oral, not injection," Plaza said.

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"It’s really a big investment because they are considering to make the Philippines as the manufacturing hub of this oral COVID vaccine and other related medicine," she added.

Plaza did not share the value of the capital investment and the name of the firm. An official announcement will be made, she said.

Brands such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson, among others, are scrambling to meet the global demand for COVID-19 vaccines.

Global investors, including Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, have earlier expressed optimism for big pharmaceutical companies as the pandemic heightened the demand for medicines and the COVID-19 vaccines.

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-- with a report from Reuters