Pfizer said it is in talks with many governments around the world.
Highlight
- Pfizer “pledged to engage with India and explore opportunities”
- Britain approved Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for public rollout next week
- Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Unlikely To Be Available Soon In India: Sources
New Delhi:
Pfizer remains “committed to working with the Indian government and exploring opportunities” to make its coronavirus vaccine available in the country, the US pharmaceutical giant said, a day after Britain approved the vaccine to be released to the public. early next week.
Pfizer said it is in talks with many governments around the world “… Pfizer will supply this vaccine only through government contracts based on agreements with the respective government authorities and after authorization or regulatory approval,” said the manufacturer. of medications in a statement.
Britain became the first Western nation on Thursday to approve a Covid vaccine that has killed more than 14.92 lakhs of people worldwide.
However, sources told NDTV on Wednesday that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is unlikely to be available in India anytime soon. For a vaccine to be allowed in India, it must approve clinical trials here, and sources said neither Pfizer nor its partner companies had requested to conduct such trials. This means that even if Pfizer partners with an Indian company now, it will take some time for the vaccine to be available in the country.
However, India’s general drug controller has “discretionary power to waive localized clinical trials for a vaccine,” the sources said, but also noted that to date, all drugs approved by the drug controller had approved. at least limited phase 3 trials.
Last month, NITI Aayog member VK Paul, who also heads the National Working Group on COVID-19, had said that the arrival of the Pfizer vaccine in India could take a few months.
India had held talks with Pfizer in August, but there has been no progress since then, the sources said, adding that the focus on India remains five other candidates, including one developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute. based in Pune. .
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila and Bharat BioTech last week to review the development of their Covid vaccines and the manufacturing process.
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