India’s first COVID-19 vaccine gets drug regulator nod, clinical trials in July
The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has approved the phase I and II of clinical trials of Covaxin, the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidate, the company announced on Monday (June 29). The trials will begin from July.
The vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based company in association with Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology is an inactivated vaccine, formulated from the strain of the SARS-COV-2 virus.
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According to reports, Drug Controller General of India Dr VG Somani gave permission for the clinical trials after the company submitted results from pre-clinical studies of the vaccine, demonstating its safety and immune response.
The COVID situation across the world has sent many firms looking for a vaccine against the virus.
With as many as 30 companies working on a vaccine, an NDTV report quoting a top scientific advisor to the government said that efforts that normally take 15 years and cost US$300 million are being condensed into a 12-month period.
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Other Indian companies that are developing COVID vaccines are Serum Institute of India, Panacea Biotec and Zydus Cadila.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently named AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed by researchers at University of Oxford the leading candidate, while US firm Moderna’s vaccine will go into Phase III clinical trials from mid-July.
