Coronavirus vaccine latest: Wockhardt ties up with UK govt to supply COVID vaccines

Serum Institute of India has tied up with Oxford-AstraZeneca to mass-produce its vaccine, when it is ready, under the name of ‘Covidshield’. (Reuters image)

Coronavirus vaccine latest: Indian drugmaker Wockhardt Ltd on Monday said it has entered into an agreement with the UK government to supply COVID-19 vaccine, according to a report by CNBC. The pharmaceutical company said it had reserved manufacturing capacity to supply vaccines to the UK. The company will supply millions of doses of multiple COVID-19 vaccines to the UK. Among those, one is being developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca, the report said. The COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing will be undertaken at CP Pharma, a subsidiary of the company in North Wales. Earlier, the UK government had funded scientists at Imperial College London to develop a Coronavirus vaccine.

Serum Institute of India has tied up with Oxford-AstraZeneca to mass-produce its vaccine, when it is ready, under the name of ‘Covidshield’. The Pune-based firm has obtained approval for the Phase II and Phase III human trials in India from the Drug Controller General of India. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is undergoing Phase II and Phase III human trials in the UK, Phase III trials in Brazil and Phase II, and Phase III trials in South Africa.

Last month, the Donald Trump administration had signed a multi-billion dollar deal with American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech. As part of the deal, 100 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine, when it is ready, will be delivered to the federal government of America. Pfizer-BioNTech’s experimental coronavirus vaccine has entered phase 3 human trials. Moderna, whose potential coronavirus vaccine has reached the Phase 3 human trials, has received funding from the US government.

The quest for developing an effective coronavirus vaccine has entered an interesting phase. Russia has claimed that the “world’s first vaccine” would be ready in August. One Chinese vaccine has reportedly got approval for military use. Around 140 vaccine candidates are at the preclinical stages. Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac, and Sinopharm have managed to enter Phase III of the human trials.