Bharat Biotech has said that its vaccine against novel coronavirus, Covaxin, will be available in the first quarter of next year. In a statement on Wednesday, Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech said that their covid-19 vaccine will focus on safety and efficacy.
“With safety and efficacy data, Covaxin will be available in the first quarter of next year to the categories and the first responders according to the plan that govt of India is embarking upon for phased vaccination,” Ella told ANI.
Bharat Biotech has partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) and National Institute of Virology(NIV) to develop an indigenous vaccine against the covid-19 infection that has claimed over 1,32,000 lives in the country.
The Hyderabad pharmaceutical company also joined the list of drug makers, including Serum Institute of India and Pfizer, in seeking emergency use authorisation of its vaccine candidate from Drug Controller General of India(DCGI).
Meanwhile, a team of 64 foreign envoys on Wednesday had visited leading biotech companies to monitor covid-19 vaccine development in India.
Meanwhile, Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has asked for more data and from Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech on their covid-19 vaccine candidates.
Bharat Biotech was recently under the public scrutiny when Haryana minister Anil Vij, who had administered Covaxin on November 20, tested positive for the infection a fortnight later.
The company later released an elaborated statement saying the minister had only administered a single dose while covaxin is a two-dose vaccine.
Notably, unlike other vaccine frontrunners, Bharat Biotech is yet to announce efficacy rate of its covid-19 vaccine.
Covaxin is still undergoing phase-3 trials among 25,000 volunteers at more than 30 sites in the country. In its application seeking emergency use authorisation, Bharat Biotech has cited promising phase 1 and 2 results of its vaccine candidate.
