Budget 2018-19

There are several candidates in the works – the Serum Institute of India,  Bharat Biotech , and Zydus Cadila are working on either developing or manufacturing anti-malarial vaccines Vaccines for malaria and dengue, tropical mosquito-borne infections, could take two to four years to hit the Indian market, say industry insiders. At present, there are several candidates in the works with the Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech, and Zydus Cadila all working on either developing or manufacturing anti-malarial vaccines. As for dengue, French firm Sanofi and Japan’s Takeda are looking to bring their vaccines here. SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, and Novavax are collaborating for phase-3 clinical trials of the Oxford University’s Jenner Institute’s  malaria vaccine  on over 4,800 children in four African countries. It has shown 77 per cent efficacy in trials on infants, the first vaccine to cross the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of 75 per cent effic...

  Covishield production to cross 120 mn doses a month, Covaxin 58 mn doses a month Production of both  Covishield  and Covaxin – Covid-19 vaccines from Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech – is set to rise from next month. The target of 1.35 bn vaccine doses between August and December, however, looks like a long haul. According to a response given in the Rajya Sabha, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said recently that the monthly production capacity of Covishield is projected to increase from 110 mn doses to more than 120 mn doses a month, whereas the production capacity of Covaxin is projected to increase from 25 mn doses a month to around 58 mn doses a month. Mandaviya added that apart from this, the Centre has also facilitated further capacity augmentation of Covaxin at central public sector enterprises including Haffkine Biopharmaceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), Hyderabad and Bharat Immunological...

  The study was aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians Indian health care workers who were administered Covishield have shown better antibody response than the Covaxin recipients, revealed a recent study. The study, published in an online archive for unpublished manuscripts in medical sciences medRxiv, showed that after two shots of the vaccines, 98 per cent recipients of Covishield showed antibody response, while the same was 80 per cent among Covaxin recipients. The study published by a group of doctors – Awadhesh Kumar Singh, Sanjeev Ratnakar Phatak, Ritu Singh, Kingshuk Bhattacharjee, Nagendra Kumar Singh, Arvind Gupta, and Arvind Sharma – has not been peer-reviewed yet. The researchers have declared no competing interest and that no funding was received for this cross-sectional study. The study was aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians. “We assessed ...

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish over the incident Five people were killed on Thursday in a major fire that broke out in a Serum Institute of India factory, but the world’s largest vaccine maker said the incident would not affect the production of Covid-19 vaccine even as new launches may be hit. Sparks from welding work being carried out in the under-installation factory in Pune had triggered the fire that destroyed some floors of the building, local authorities said. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said an investigation and a fire audit will be done. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish over the incident. “In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest,” he tweeted. Serum Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla offered condolences over the loss of lives. “I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of  #Covishield ...

  Adar Poonawalla and Krishna Ella issue joint statement saying they would work together to roll out Covid-19 vaccine After engaging in a war of words, the chiefs of two of India’s leading vaccine makers — Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) — called a truce on Tuesday and pledged to work together for a “smooth roll-out” of Covid-19 vaccines. In a joint statement,  Bharat Biotech  Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella and SII Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said the more important task in front of them was to save the lives and livelihoods of populations in India and the world. “Vaccines are a global public health good and they have the power to save lives and accelerate the return to economic normalcy at the earliest,” the statement read. “Now that two Covid-19 vaccines have been issued EUA (emergency use authorisation) in India, the focus is on manufacturing, supply, and distribution…Both companies are fully engaged in this activity and consi...

  Health personnel succh as doctors and nurses and frontline workers such as police personnel, home guards won’t have to register themselves online to get the vaccine The health ministry is prepared to roll out the Covid vaccine within 10 days of the emergency use authorisation, which was granted to two companies on January 3. While giving this information on Tuesday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told reporters that the final date would be decided by the government. The roll-out is being planned, including the logistics and technology network, based on the feedback from the recent dry run of the vaccination process, according to Bhushan. Aadhar verification too will be a part of the online vaccine delivery platform Co-Win. Addressing the weekly briefing on Covid, Bhushan said health workers including doctors and nurses as well as frontline workers such as police personnel and home guards would not have to register on the online platform to get vaccinated. Their data has already ...

  While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute here has 70.42% efficacy, Bharat Biotech’s still does not have efficacy data as trials are underway in India India’s drug regulator on Sunday gave its final approval to the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech coronavirus vaccines for restricted use in an emergency situation, giving the country its first two shots for immunising its vast population in the coming weeks. While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII), has 70.42 per cent efficacy, the indigenous vaccine from Bharat Biotech does not have efficacy details because the trials are underway. It is doing a study of 25,800 volunteers and around 22,500 participants have been given at least one jab. Both vaccines can be stored at 2-8 degrees Celsius and the companies have been stockpiling them for dispatch once the approvals come. SII has a stockpile of over 50 million doses at the moment and can make 100 million doses per mont...

  This could be the first country to give the regulatory green light for the British drugmaker’s vaccine as the British medicine regulator continues to examine data from the trials India is likely to approve Oxford/AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency use by next week after its local manufacturer submitted additional data sought by authorities, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. This could be the first country to give the regulatory green light for the British drugmaker’s vaccine as the British medicine regulator continues to examine data from the trials. India, the world’s biggest vaccine-making country, wants to start inoculating its citizens next month and is also considering emergency use authorisation applications for vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and local company Bharat Biotech. Getting  Corona vaccines  to the world’s second-most populous country with one of the highest infection rates will also be a big step in the battle a...

  ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said that in the case of temporary licensure or emergency use, the regulator had to be satisfied with the risk-benefit ratio. Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International (BBIL) had changed the dosage from 3 micrograms of antigen to 6 micrograms during its Covid-19 vaccine trial, a point that the subject expert committee (SEC) would closely examine when it meets on Wednesday to review its application for an emergency use authorisation (EUA) for Covaxin.The panel would also review the applications of Pfizer-BioNTech and Serum Institute of India (SII) seeking an EUA for their vaccines. While many have raised questions over BBIL applying for an EUA during an ongoing efficacy trial, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the country’s apex health research institute, has defended the move. ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said that in the case of temporary licensure or emergency use, the regulator had to be satisfied with the risk-ben...