New Delhi: Serum Institute can sell Covishield covid-19 vaccine in approximately ₹500- ₹600 per dose in the private market, about double the $ 3 per injection it will cost the Indian government, as well as the COVAX facility, CEO Adar Poonawalla said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Thursday.
“The government of India will get it at a much cheaper price, probably around $ 3-4 because it will buy huge volumes of hundreds of millions of doses. So they will get access to the similar price to COVAX which is $ 3 and the general public will probably have to pay around. ₹500- ₹600, “Poonawalla said.
The world’s largest vaccine maker by volume is in a pact with the vaccine’s co-developer, British company AstraZeneca plc. for the manufacture of about 1 billion doses of the vaccine and its distribution and sale in India and other low- and middle-income countries.
Poonawalla on Thursday also said the company plans to apply for an emergency use authorization from India’s Comptroller General of Medicines VG Somani for its vaccine next month, and to get the regulatory green light in January. However, the process relies on robust efficacy data from the Astrazeneca trials in the UK, which are expected later this month.
“We are basing the assumption of an emergency license based on positive results in the UK. So these are the caveats. That if we get a good result in the UK in late November or early December, we ask for an emergency license use. Then you have the vaccine for vulnerable populations in January or February. And then for March or April for the general public, “Poonawalla said, adding that if any of these milestones are delayed, Serum’s plans could be delayed.
If things go according to plan, the company plans to have 300 to 400 million injections of the two-dose vaccine ready by March or April, he said.
The company is currently expanding its capacity to make the vaccine to around 100 million doses from around 50-60 million doses today.
“At this moment, we are at a capacity of 50-60 million per month as production, by February, we will have reached 100 million doses per month. Right now I have dedicated two facilities (for Covishield production) and will dedicate another two facilities in January (or) February, which are being validated, “he said, adding that the doubling of monthly production is for India and COVAX.
The company is in talks with Nepal and some African countries, but has not signed a bilateral vaccine supply pact with any country other than Bangladesh. For Africa, Poonawalla said, he expects COVAX to handle a significant proportion of doses.
The Serum Institute does not plan to sign pacts with other countries at present because it may not be able to provide vaccines to those countries, especially since India’s population of more than 1 billion will be the company’s main concern, he said.
In the future, the company also has plans to make a vaccine developed by US-based Novavax and three other candidates, and the company plans to release one of those vaccines every three to four months, and the Novavax candidate expected in April or May. , he said.
Pune-based Serum Institute has also signed agreements with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for the manufacture and delivery of up to 200 million doses of covid-19 vaccines from Oxford and Novavax for COVAX, a facility jointly established by Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) for equitable access to covid-19 vaccines.
In return, the company has received $ 300 million to finance the operation, a very risky one considering that the company would be manufacturing the vaccines even before receiving regulatory approval.
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