The Serum Institute of India (SII) is preparing 1 billion doses of five different vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) worldwide before the end of 2021-22, according to a report. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the world’s largest vaccine maker by volume, said his company plans to launch at least one vaccine every quarter, likely early next year.
These will include Covishield, Covovax, COVIVAXX, COVI-VAC and SII COVAX. Covishield, which is being developed by the UK’s Oxford University, and licensed by the British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, is currently in phase 3 clinical trials in India among nearly 1,600 people. Serum Institute of India has partnered with AstraZeneca to manufacture the candidate vaccine, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of next year and immunization may begin in January if clearances are given early.
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“The plan is to launch at least one vaccine every quarter starting with Covishield, which we license from AstraZeneca, probably in early 2021 … We are already producing between 20 and 30 million doses and we can increase production to 70-80 million per year. . month. Currently, we are consciously producing less considering the shelf life of the vaccine, “Adar Poonawalla told BusinessToday.in on Thursday.
He reported that the second coronavirus disease vaccine from the Serum Institute Life Sciences (SILS), a new company launched by SII, is likely to be Covovax, which is a spike protein vaccine that is being developed in partnership with the company. of Novovax biotechnology.
Novovax has an agreement with the IBS to produce 1 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021. The report from BusinessToday.in said that the Covovax phase 1 clinical trial started in May 2020 in Australia and is currently in phase two developmental. A phase 3 clinical trial with up to 30,000 subjects is expected to begin in late 2020, he added.
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Adar Poonawala said that the new SILS manufacturing plant is being built near the SII plant in Pune and will take two years to complete. Poonawalla also said, according to BusinessToday.in, that SILS will outsource the SII’s capacity until then.
Poonawalla added that the private company has already invested 70% of the required capex of 3 billion rupees in land, buildings, plants, raw materials and other related infrastructure. SII will postpone its previous expansion plans to develop some new vaccines for the US and European markets. “Once completed, between the SII and the SILS, we will have the capacity to manufacture more than 2.3 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines, provided there is demand and requirement,” Poonawalla said according to the report.
India’s infection count rose to 7.76 million with 54,366 new cases of the coronavirus disease and 690 related deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health.
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