The Central Drugs Control Organization on Tuesday, gives a green light to Phase I and II of human trials of the first indigenously developed vaccine, Covaxin. A brainchild of Hyderabad based Bharat biotech India, this vaccine was developed in alliance with the Indian Council for Medical Research’s National Institute of Virology.
Bharat Biotech in its statement stated that the approval was received post the submission of the preclinical studies, which served as the evidence of its safety and immune response, to the ICMR. The news comes as India becomes the fourth largest country in terms of Corona virus cases, touching the mark of 5.5 lakh positive cases with a surge of around 18000 cases everyday.
In the quest for development of a vaccine for the novel Corona virus, several attempts have been made in the past few months and the race still continues with an increase in participants. The other contenders in this race include AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, developed by the researchers at the University of Oxford, which has already begun large scale human trials in the UK.
The American biotech giant Moderna is also not behind, entering its final phase of clinical trials for its vaccine mRNA-1273 in mid-July. The firm plans to manufacture 100 million doses in partnership with the drug-maker Catalent Inc., beginning in the third quarter of 2020.
Following both of them are China, France, Germany and others who have also been working towards a stronger combat against this unforgiving virus.
The World Health Organization reports that there are 16 vaccines which are on the edge of development and around 140 oscillating across various stages of trials.
With this progress in Indian Medicine and Virology, our nation enters the race of giving birth to a vaccine for the novel Corona virus, which has claimed more than 5,00,000 lives across the world.
