India may approve AstraZeneca-Oxford's covid-19 vaccine by next week

In a major development, India may approve Oxford/AstraZeneca's covid-19 vaccine for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer, that is, Serum Institute of India submitted additional data sought by authorities to ensure efficacy and safety of their vaccine candidate, reuters said in a report.

If the said plan is materialised, India would be the first country to the regulatory approval to the British drugmaker's vaccine even as Oxford and AstraZeneca continue to examine data.

The report further added that India is also looking forward to approving applications of Pfizer Incs and indigenous Bharat Biotech, who had also sought the permission for approval.

Serum Institute of India, world's largest vaccine maker by volume, has partnered with UK's Oxford University and AstraZeneca for manufacturing their vaccine candidate in the country. Besides India, they will also be producing vaccines for other small and middle income countries.

The AstraZeneca-Oxford's vaccine candidate has advantage over other vaccines as unlike other candidates, it does not require an extremely cold environment to be stored, making it easier to transport. Moreover, it is also very cheaper in comparison to other vaccine candidates.

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) had earlier reviewed the three applications on December 9 and sought more information from all the companies, including from Serum Institute of India (SII), in order to approve them for emergency use.

According to the latest report, SII has now provided all the data required for emergency approval.

"Serum is ready," one of the sourced told reuters. "Initially, we may get around 50 million to 60 million doses."

India is yet to sign a deal with any company but Serum Institute of India is ready with 50 million doses of vaccines all set to be rolled out in the market. As per SII's CEO Aadar Poonawalla, the company will be able to produce at least 400 million doses of the vaccine by July 2021.