BENGALURU – Indian drug maker Biological E. Ltd will begin manufacturing a medical substance used in Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate that is in early to mid-stage trials, the companies said on Thursday.
J&J intends to produce more than 1 billion doses of its vaccine candidate, and has struck a similar deal with US-based Emergent BioSolutions Inc to boost production. Large-scale studies for the potential vaccine, Ad26.COV2-S, are set to begin in early October.
Twenty-eight candidates for vaccines are currently in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, because the worldwide death toll from the new coronavirus is about 750,000.
Biological E. Ltd also said in an email that it has signed a licensing agreement with Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Other Indian companies developing or producing potential COVID-19 vaccines include the Serum Institute, Wockhardt Ltd, Cadila Healthcare Ltd and Panacea Biotec Ltd.
India on Thursday reported a record daily jump of 67,000 coronavirus infections, taking the total to nearly 2.4 million. It has the third largest business tax after the United States and Brazil.
(Report by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru)
