Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ has demonstrated potential effectiveness against the Brazil variant of SARS-CoV-2, B.1.128.2, in a new study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in association with the National Institute of Virology.
The Brazilian variant contains the E484K mutation that was found in New York in the United States of America.
COVAXIN demonstrated potential effectiveness against the Brazil variant of SARS-CoV-2 in a recent study published by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology. Visit https://t.co/sIbmTUcubU to view today’s release. pic.twitter.com/0nLZvQhWJR
— Ocugen (@Ocugen) May 3, 2021
A previous study conducted by ICMR had shown that Covaxin is also effective against the UK variant, B.1.1.7, and the Indian double mutant variant, B.1.617.
These studies suggest that Covaxin may be effective against multiple variants of the coronavirus.
“We are pleased to see the results of this study as it demonstrates the potential effectiveness of Covaxin against multiple variants, further strengthening our belief that this vaccine can potentially eliminate the possibility of mutant virus escape,” said Dr Satish Chandran, chairperson of the vaccine scientific advisory board of Ocugen, on Monday.
Covaxin in the US
Ocugen is a biopharmaceutical company based in the US that is developing Covaxin for the US market. Dr Shankar Musunuri, co-founder of the company, said, “Covaxin continues to show strong results in all the studies conducted to date. We continue to believe this vaccine is a critical tool to include in our national arsenal to fight this pandemic. The Ocugen team submitted a comprehensive drug master file to the FDA [Food and Drug Administration, USA] and is currently diligently preparing the emergency use authorisation application.”
In the recently shared second interim results of the Phase 3 clinical trial, Covaxin demonstrated 78 per cent overall efficacy and 100 per cent efficacy in severe Covid-19 cases.