On Wednesday, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech released its results of Phase III trials of its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin outlining that the efficacy of the India’s first homemade vaccine is 81%.
ANI quotes a statement by Bharat Biotech: “COVAXIN has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81% in its Phase 3 clinical trial. The trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, in partnership with ICMR”.
COVAXIN has demonstrated an interim vaccine efficacy of 81% in its Phase 3 clinical trial. The trials involved 25,800 subjects, the largest ever conducted in India, in partnership with ICMR: Bharat Biotech pic.twitter.com/jDIka9LIEE
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2021
The data come from 25,800 participants who received a vaccine or placebo in a 1:1 ratio and showed that the vaccine candidate was well-tolerated, Bharat Biotech stated.
“The clinical trial will continue through to final analysis at 130 confirmed cases in order to gather further data and to evaluate the efficacy of COVAXIN in additional secondary study endpoints,” the company further stated.
Earlier, the central government approved the Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘COVAXIN’ for emergency uses only. After that many health experts raised concerns over the use of this vaccine. All India Drug Action Network said that it was shocked by the decision because of the absence of efficacy data. However, Bharat Biotech defended the approval process and assured that the vaccine is completely safe.