“Hope To Launch Covovax By June 2021”: Serum Institute’s Adar Poonawalla
Adar Poonawalla assured that partnership with Novovax has proven “excellent results”.
New Delhi:
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, is hopeful of launching Covovax – developed in partnership with American vaccine developer Novavax – by June, its CEO Adar Poonawalla mentioned as we speak. The US-based pharma agency’s Covid jab was discovered to be 89.3 per cent efficient in a UK trial.
The Pune-based Serum Insttute has already applied for local trials for the vaccine candidate in India. “Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #COVOVAX by June 2021!” Adar Poonawalla tweeted this afternoon,” Mr Poonawalla’s tweet read.
Earlier this month, India began the world’s largest inoculation drive after the drug regulator DCGI cleared two vaccines – the SII’s Covishield and Hyderabad-based pharma firm Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
Covishield has been developed in partnership with the Oxford University and British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.
Our partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with @Novavax has also published excellent efficacy results. We have also applied to start trials in India. Hope to launch #COVOVAX by June 2021!
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 30, 2021
India is the fastest country in the world to vaccinate three million people, the government said in a series of tweets on Friday, drawing comparison with other nations.
Earlier this month, Mr Poonawalla mentioned that his firm would manufacture “upwards of 40-50 million doses monthly” of the Novavax vaccine from around April. The efficacy of the Novavax vaccine was calculated at 95.6 per cent against the original coronavirus strain, and 85.6 per cent against the UK variant. But the level of protection was lower in a smaller, mid-stage trial conducted in South Africa.
Today marks one year of India’s fight against the novel coronavirus, which has affected over 1.07 crore people in the country.
“India has in these occasions of disaster fulfilled its world tasks from the start by establishing infrastructure associated to vaccination. So far solely two made-in-India vaccines have been launched, however sooner or later many extra vaccines shall be made accessible,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier this week, addressing a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
