The Serum Institute of India (SII) has joined five candidate vaccines to fight the deadly novel coronavirus, Adar Poonawalla said. Earlier this year, the Pune-based drugmaker signed an agreement with British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca to manufacture its experimental vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is currently in a phase II / III clinical trial in the country. AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford said the late-stage trial data should land this year.
The world’s largest vaccine maker by volume, it also partnered with Novavax Inc in August to make its potential COVID-19 vaccine for India and other countries. “In addition to the Covishield Phase II and III clinical trials, we have a manufacturing and testing partnership for the Novavax candidate (which is only two months away from the Oxford vaccine) in GAVI countries,” Poonawalla said. mint.
Under an agreement with the US drug developer, the Serum Institute will develop two billion doses of the Novavax candidate vaccine annually. The pharmacist will also manufacture the antigen component of the vaccine. Novavax is conducting last-stage trials in Great Britain and expects to report results in the first quarter of 2021.
“We have also partnered with the US-based Codagenix, which is in its preclinical trials phase and will move to the human trials phase by the end of 2020,” said Adar Poonawalla, CEO. mint. “We have a global manufacturing and supply partnership with them,” he further revealed.
“We are also investigating two candidates for the coronavirus vaccine,” Poonawalla said. mint.
The Serum Institute had previously partnered with the GAVI International Vaccine Alliance and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to accelerate the manufacturing and delivery of up to 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
On manufacturing, Poonawalla shared: “Our goal is to initially manufacture 60-70 million doses, and roll it out to 100 million doses of the vaccine per month.”
In response to the prices, SII’s general manager said: “We are in conversation with the government about prices, but we are sure it will be affordable for everyone,” he added.
India is likely to have a ‘safe and effective’ coronavirus vaccine by January next year. “Based on the success of trials in India and the UK, and if regulatory approvals are in place on time, then we can expect the vaccine to be available in India in January 2021,” shared Poonawalla, and added: it is immunogenic and proven effective “
.
