India’s second-largest drugmaker, Aurobindo Pharma said it is looking at possible tie-ups with companies to do contract manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. This will be in addition to the company’s own efforts to develop a vaccine.
He also added, that in addition to manufacturing, they will undertake distribution. Aurobindo has announced its own COVID-19 vaccine development programme through its US subsidiary. ‘Auro Vaccine’ which uses recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (RVSV) vector platform, is being developed by Profectus BioSciences and was acquired by Aurobindo Pharma in November last year. This vaccine is still in the pre-clinical phase.
Aurobindo has also partnered with three CSIR labs – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, Institute of Medical Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh, and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (IICB), Kolkata, vaccine-making candidates using three different technology platforms. Aurobindo will undertake the clinical development and commercialisation of these vaccines.
