June 2021 release for Covaxin? Bharat Biotech gears up for coronavirus vaccine launch

Bharat Biotech that is working on coronavirus vaccine Covaxin is aiming for a June 2021 release of its candidate. The company is hoping for positive results from its late-stage trials. The drugmaker was given the approval by the drug regulator last week to conduct Phase 3 trials for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The pharma company plans to start late-stage trials of the vaccine candidate next month. Over 26,000 candidates would be monitored for the vaccine candidate's efficacy. Executive Director Sai Prasad said that Bharat Biotech would analyse the data from the trial in a period of six months from the trials.

Prasad, however, said that the government and the company are yet to discuss emergency-use authorisation. He said that the emergency approval is out of their hands but the government could give the approval for first responders including nurses, military and certain bureaucrats if they wish to.

Talking about testing sites, Prasad said that the centre might be increased. The company is aiming to conduct trials in 25 sites. He added that the testing centres are well spread in north, south, east and west.

"The benchmark for the efficacy of our anti-Covid-19 vaccine is 60%. We will be conducting the largest Phase 3 trial for Covaxin, and the efficacy results should be available by early April-May, 2021," Sai Prasad had said earlier after the company received the nod for Phase 3 trials.

Bharat Biotech's trials are one in a host of coronavirus vaccine trials in the country. Along with AstraZeneca-Oxford University coronavirus trials, Zydus Cadila and Russia's Sputnik V are also under trial.

Also read: Coronavirus vaccine: Covaxin to be at least 60% effective, says Bharat Biotech

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