Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with Serum Institute has completed enrolment of Phase III trial in India. The Oxford COVID-19 vaccine is currently being tested in large efficacy trials in the UK, Brazil, South Africa and the US.
At present, Serum Institute and ICMR are conducting Phase II/III clinical trial of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at 15 different centres across India Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for biomedical research, today announced the completion of enrolment of Phase III clinical trials for ‘Covishield’ or Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in India.
Covishield has been developed at the Serum Institute Pune laboratory with a master seed from Oxford University/Astra Zeneca. Serum Institute has completed the enrolment of all 1,600 participants on 31 October 2020, said the vaccine-maker. “The promising results of the trials so far give confidence that Covishield could be a realistic solution to the deadly pandemic,” Serum Institute said.
The collaboration will further aid putting India at the forefront of developing an immunogenic and efficacious vaccine. The pandemic has presented a chance to foster structural reforms in building robust public healthcare infrastructure. The partnership further testifies the importance of private-public institutes coming together in scaling up the management and containing the spread of the virus.”
