Zydus to commercialise Zycov-D next month, scale up production to 1 cr by Oct

Zydus Cadila will commercialise its three-dose COVID-19 DNA vaccine Zycov-D by September end and will scale up manufacturing to one crore doses by October.

The company is in discussions with 2-3 other Indian manufacturers for technology transfer to scale up production. "We are also in discussions with a few overseas manufacturers to license the vaccine", said Dr Sharvil Patel, managing director, Zydus Cadila.

Also Read: Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine nod a global first in plasmid DNA jabs

He said the company has started production in small batches and is stockpiling 2-3 million doses of the vaccine from its new facility set up at Ahmedabad. 

The company will scale up production to one crore doses by October. Patel added that the commissioning of the facility was delayed by 45 days due to the lockdown last year. 

"Being the plasmid DNA platform, it is easy to scale up and we will be able to supply one crore doses in October. It will take 3-4 months for the technology transfer and further scale up production", he noted.

Also Read: Zydus Cadila Q1 net profit rises 29% to Rs 587 cr, revenue up 15%

Patel further stated that the company has not finalised the price of the vaccine. "We will soon start discussions with the Government and as in the case of other vaccines, will be supplying 25% to private hospitals", he said.

Zydus has partnered with a US company for the PharmaJet needle-free system, Tropis, the first in the world to administer a vaccine through an applicator. 

The applicator is currently manufactured in Singapore and is setting up 2-3 assembling facilities in India. Plans are to make two crore devices a month.

 As far as raw materials are concerned, the company has stockpiled for the next 7-8 months. It is also looking at fully sourcing raw materials from India going forward.

Commenting on the efficacy data, Patel informed that the final data of Phase III will come out within 4-6 months.