Zydus Cadila may seek emergency use approval for its Covid vaccine in 7-8 days
Premium- It will be the second indigenous COVID-19 vaccine to apply for such authorisation. It will also be the world's first DNA vaccine against coronavirus
Covid vaccine: Pharmaceutical major Zydus is likely to apply for emergency use authorisation (EUA) for its Covid vaccine — ZyCoV-D — in the next seven-eight days, news agency ANI reported on Friday. According to the report, the pharma company has informed the Centre that it could apply for emergency use nod for its vaccine in a week.
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Cadila's ZyCoV-D will be the second indigenous vaccine — after Covaxin — to apply for such authorisation. Also, it will also be the world's first DNA vaccine against the deadly virus.
Citing a source, the agency reported that Zydus Cadila has told the government that it could apply for emergency use authorisation for ZyCoV-D vaccine in the next seven-eight days.
Cadila's ZyCoV-D is a DNA vaccine, which carries the genetic code for that part of a virus that triggers the immune system of the body.
Zydus Cadila has enrolled more than 28,000 volunteers for their phase three study, Niti Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul told ANI. He also said that the government was hoping that the company "will apply in near future".
Paul also said that most of their study was complete. "They (Cadila) have enrolled more than 28,000 volunteers in their phase 3 study. We expect they will submit the results very soon. We are hopeful of this vaccine because it would be the world's first DNA vaccine. We are very proud of their work," he said.
ZyCoV-D is being developed with support from the Centre's National Biopharma Mission as part of the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, Department of Biotechnology.
So far, India has approved three vaccines — Covaxin of Bharat Biotech, Covishield of Serum Institute of India, and the Russian Sputnik V.
Covishield has been developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
After Covaxin, ZyCoV-D is the second indigenous vaccine. It is a three-dose vaccine — to be administered at day 0, day 28, and day 56. Cadila is also working on a two-dose regimen of this vaccine.
The stability data of the vaccine candidate showed that ZyCoV-D can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for long-term use and 25 degrees Celsius for the short term, the agency reported.
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