Bharat Biotech justifies vax cost in pvt hospitals
WE RECEIVED support from Indian Council of Medical Research which provided SARS-CoV2 virus, animal studies, virus characterisation, test kits and partial funding for clinical trial sites. In return for this valuable support, Bharat Biotech will pay royalties to ICMR and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), based on product sales. Royalties are also payable to Virovax towards the licensure of IMDG agonist molecules.
— BHARAT BIOTECH
Bharat Biotech, which manufactures Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, said the price at which it supplied Covaxin to the Centre —
`150 a dose — was ‘non sustainable’ in the long run, and was ‘non-competitive’. The company, under fire of late from several quarters for Covaxin price — particularly the
`1,200 per dose for private hospitals — said in light of the price at which it sold the vaccine to the Indian government, “a higher price in private markets is required to offset part of the costs.”
The company also said after supplying more than
4 crore doses of Covaxin, the vaccine had built an “excellent safety record” and against this background, Bharat Biotech “has not sought indemnity from the government of India for any adverse events from Covaxin.” Bharat Biotech’s stance on this issue comes in the wake of other Covid-19 vaccine makers, notably Pfizer with which the Indian government has been negotiating import of its vaccine, seeking indemnity in India from any adverse events from use of its vaccine. Following this, Serum Institute of India, which manufactures in India the Oxford-AsraZeneca developed Covishield vaccine, too had sought similar assurances.
Covaxin, Bharat Biotech said, was more expensive for the private sector, and the pricing arises purely due to fundamental business reasons, ranging from low procurement volumes, high distribution costs and retail margins among others.
Covaxin’s supply price to the Central government at `150 a dose, was a noncompetitive price and clearly not sustainable in the long run, Bharat Biotech said, adding that in view of this, a higher price in private markets was required to offset part of the costs. The average price realisation per dose for the company was less than `250 per dose, it said.
“In our view, the question of product pricing is only of extraneous interest to all concerned, especially when the same vaccine is made available free of cost,” the company said, adding that it had so far invested over `500 crore at risk from its own resources for product development, clinical trials and setting up of Covaxin manufacturing facilities.