Coronavirus vaccines in India: Here's a list of all the COVID-19 vaccines being made in India

With the increase in the number of coronavirus cases, India has become one of the worst affected countries in the world. Many scientists and researchers are working tirelessly to develop a clinically developed vaccine and India has also pulled up its sleeves to develop the same. Besides major pharma and biotech companies, small independent medical groups have also volunteered to develop a possible cure for the deadly virus.

That being said, many Indian companies are in a bid to produce a vaccine to fight the infection. However, only a few vaccine candidates have received the approvals to perform vaccine trials and clinical testing. Here's a list of all COVID-19 vaccines being made in India.

Covaxin is an indigenous vaccine candidate being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The vaccine makes use of an inactive version of a virus to spike up production of antibodies in the host body. Only last month, Bharat Biotech had successfully completed their Phase I and Phase II trials of Covaxin. The Phase III human clinical trial began at AIIMS in New Delhi on Thursday with Dr. M V Padma Srivastava, the chief of Neurosciences Centre at the premier institute, and three other volunteers receiving the first dose.

Ahmedabad-based pharma giant, Zydus Cadila announced the start of phase I of its testing process of its novel vaccine candidate in July and commenced phase-II clinical trials from August. The company is testing two versions of its vaccine, one which makes use of molecular DNA to elicit an immune response, while the other uses a live measles viral strain to provide protection. The vaccine is expected to be available by March 2021.

One of the leading vaccine candidates for COVID-19, Oxford - AstraZeneca, dubbed as Covishield in India, has shown promising results in the past. Although recently, they have come across some manufactoring errors, which have raised some serious doubts amongst the public, the vaccine has shown 70 per cent efficacy in its interim analysis. Just a few weeks back, Serum Institute of India announced that the Oxford coronavirus vaccine will be ready and available for healthcare workers and elderly people by February 2021, while the general public will have their hands on it by April 2021.

According to Adar Poonawalla, the Chief of India's Serum InstituteSerum, children would have to wait a little longer till the safety data is out, but the good news is that Covid-19 is not so bad and serious for them.

Hyderabad-based Biological E, in collaboration with its strategic partners, has initiated phase I/II clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in India. According to the statement made by the company, phase I/II clinical trial will analyse the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine candidate in about 360 healthy subjects in the age range of 18 to 65 years. The results of the clinical trial are expected to be available by February 2021.

Bengaluru-based medical pharmaceutical startup, Mynvax was founded by Raghavan Varadarajan, Professor at IISc's Molecular Biophysics Unit and Gautham, Biotech Entrepreneur, in 2017 to develop novel recombinant vaccines to fight the human influenza virus. In terms of the coronavirus, Mynvax uses a very different approach involving a protein-based vaccine. According to Mynvax co-founders, the vaccine candidate can be stored at 37°C for over a month and it will not lose its effectiveness during that period.

Reportedly, Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceutical’s m-RNA vaccine candidate could be ready by March. It is a biological product that requires genetic manipulation and hence needs the approval from the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM), a DBT body, before it can approach the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for human trials.