PremiumIn a bid to augment India's Covid-19 vaccine production, the Centre has decided to support some public sector companies with grants under "Mission COVID Suraksha". One such company is the Hyderabad-based Indian Immunological limited (IIL), which a facility under the PSU, National Dairy Development Board.
A technical collaboration agreement has been reached between IIL and Bharat Biotech, for IIL to supply the drug substance required for manufacturing of Covaxin to Bharat Biotech, an official statement read.
The Managing Director of Indian Immunological Limited, Dr K Anand Kumar said the IIL is planning to start the production of drug substance for Covaxin from next month, 15 June, and send out the first batch to Bharat Biotech limited by July.
Stating that Indian Immunologicals is expected to produce the drug substance for about 10-15 million doses per month, Dr Anand Kumar said it will be initially 2-3 million doses and will be scaled up to 6-7 million per month later in the year.
Dr Kumar shared that they are converting the Karkapatla manufacturing unit of IIL near Hyderabad into a Bio Safety Level -3 (BSL3) facility for the production of the drug substance and is also taking up construction of another block. The IIL is also working on another COVID -19 vaccine and the animal trials are underway currently and is expected to come out by next year for human vaccination.
Under Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0, Mission COVID Suraksha was announced by the government, to accelerate the development and production of Indigenous COVID Vaccines. This is being implemented by the Department of Biotechnology. IIL Hyderabad has been sanctioned a grant of ₹60 crore towards enhancing production capabilities.
As on date, India is using three vaccines against COVID-19 in its immunisation drive, these include the made-in-India vaccines Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for Emergency Use Authorisation and is being used in a few private hospitals which are expected to be increased over the coming days, the ministry said.
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