Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said on Saturday that the company is hopeful of launching Novavax's coronavirus vaccine Covovax by June this year.
The development comes a day after the Pune-based pharma giant sought the Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) permission to carry out a small domestic trial of the vaccine, which the Serum Institute is developing in partnership with American vaccine developer Novavax.
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It was found to be 89.3% effective in a UK phase-3 trial. If approved, Novavax could be India's third COVID-19 vaccine. SII has partnered with the US-based biotech company to manufacture 1 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021.
Poonawalla said that the Serum Institute's tie-up with Novavax has published 'excellent efficacy results'.
"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!" the SII chief tweeted.
Presently, SII's Covishield, and Bharat Biotech's indigenous Covaxin are the only two vaccines against coronavirus in India.
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Till last week, around 16 lakh people had been inoculated in India since the vaccination drive was launched in the country against COVID-19, the Union Health Ministry said.
Both Covishield and Covaxin are being administered as part of the country's mass inoculation drive.