COVID-19: 4 vaccines in human trial stage, 1 in pre-clinical stage, says Centre

Four COVID-19 vaccine candidates are at different stages of human trials while one, developed by Genique Life Sciences, is in the advanced pre-clinical stage, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.

In a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said Cadila Healthcare Ltd's DNA-based vaccine candidate is in phase three clinical trial. It has also submitted the interim data for emergency use authorisation.

Biological E Ltd's vaccine candidate is also in phase three clinical trial.

Bharat Biotech International Ltd's Adeno intranasal vaccine candidate is in phase three clinical trial, while Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd's mRNA-vaccine candidate is in Phase one clinical trial.

The Gurgaon-based Genique Life Sciences Pvt Ltd's vaccine candidate is in the advanced pre-clinical stage, Singh said.

Currently, three vaccines --- Serum Institute of India's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Russian vaccine Sputnik V --- are being administered in India.

Singh said 'Mission COVID Suraksha -- the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission' was announced as part of the third stimulus package 'Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0' for promoting research and development of Indian COVID-19 vaccines.

"The mission is supporting the development of four vaccine candidates in the clinical stage of development and one vaccine candidate in advance pre-clinical stage of development.

"The clinical development of vaccine candidates is being undertaken across the clinical trial sites situated pan-India," he added.