As many as seven Indian pharma companies are in the race to develop vaccine against covid-19 which has brought whole world to its knees with huge lose of human lives and nose-diving economy.
Scientists across the world are trying to come up with the vaccine with several countries have achieved successful human trials as well.
The vaccine is needed as coronavirus continues wreaking havoc. The virus has infected more than 14 million globally. In India, the total tally has reached around 1.5 million.
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India, as per a PTI report.
Vaccines normally require years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, but scientists are hoping to develop a coronavirus vaccine within months because of the pandemic.
Also read: Oxford University covid-19 vaccine safe, induces immune response: Scientists
Bharat Biotech has received approval to conduct phase I and II clinical trial for its vaccine candidate Covaxin, that has been developed and manufactured in the company’s facility in Hyderabad. It last week started human clinical trials.
Leading vaccine major Serum Institute of India has said that it is hoping to develop a COVID-19 vaccine by the year-end.
“At present, we are working on the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine which is undergoing phase III clinical trials. In addition to this, we will also start human trials in India in August 2020. Based on the current situation and most recent updates on the clinical trials, we are hoping that the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine will be available towards the end of this year,” Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla told PTI.
The company is also developing a live attenuated vaccine with US-based biotech firm Codagenix, which is undergoing pre-clinical trials, he added.
“Apart from AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine and Codagenix, we have associated with multiple institutions worldwide as manufacturing partners for vaccine candidates that are being developed. These include Austria’s Themis along with two others,” Poonawalla said.
Pharma major Zydus Cadila has said that it is looking to complete clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D in seven months.
The company had last week started clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate with the first human dosing.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech last week started human trials of its vaccine Covaxin at Rohtak’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences.
The phase I and II clinical trials of the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 by Bharat Biotech have been approved by the Indian drug regulator after pre-clinical studies demonstrated safety and immune response.
The company has developed the vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
Panacea Biotec in June said that it was setting up a joint venture firm in Ireland with US-based Refana Inc to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.
The company in partnership with Refana aims to manufacture over 500 million doses of COVID-19 candidate vaccine, with over 40 million doses expected to be available for delivery early next year, Panacea Biotec had said.
Indian Immunologicals, a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has inked an agreement with Australia’s Griffith University to develop a vaccine for coronavirus.
Others like Mynvax and Biological E are also working to develop vaccines for COVID-19.
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