Adar Poonawalla, executive director of the Serum Institute of India which is conducting trials of Covid-19 vaccine candidates, raised questions on Saturday about the country’s plan to produce and distribute injections against the coronavirus disease.
A phase III trial of the vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford and British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is underway in India as part of a production and testing agreement with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
“Quick question: will the government of India have Rs 80 billion available next year? Because that is what the Ministry of Health needs to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in India. This is the next worrying challenge we must face, ”Poonawalla tweeted.
“I ask this question because we need to plan and guide vaccine manufacturers both in India and abroad to meet the needs of our country in terms of procurement and distribution,” he said.
The Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced, is working on several candidate vaccines against coronavirus disease, including the potentially mass production of the AstraZeneca-Oxford University one that has garnered global headlines as well as developing his own. .
American biotech firm Codagenix Inc said on Tuesday that the Serum Institute of India has started manufacturing its potential Covid-19 vaccine and expects to begin early-stage human testing of the vaccine by the end of 2020 in the UK. The Serum Institute will develop the Codagenix CDX-005, which is administered intranasally rather than by injection.
Three other Covid-19 vaccines made in India are ready to enter human trials, according to an official in the Center’s biotechnology department who is supporting the development of several experimental coronavirus vaccines in the country.
The new vaccine candidates are from Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, Biological E and Bharat Biotech, which has developed one of two that are already in clinical trials. The fifth candidate vaccine from India to pass the preclinical phases is Zydus Cadila.
More than 150 potential vaccines are being developed and tested globally, with 38 in human trials, and candidates from Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are already in late-stage trials.
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