Pharma firm, govt talk pricing, procurement

NEW DELHI: Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals is in discussion with the Centre on pricing and procurement of its MRNA technology-based Covid vaccine, which was approved for emergency use earlier this week, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

“The discussions are currently on over pricing etc. and also the deployment strategy will be decided based on what NTAGI (National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) recommends,” said a senior central government official.

The vaccine, Gemcovac-19, is India’s first MRNA vaccine and only the third in world to have received some form of authorisation for use during the pandemic.

Company executives too confirmed they were in talks with the government. “I would not like to put a timeline to it but we should hear from the government soon on this as we are in active discussions. We would then know whether government will procure from us or we will be allowed to individually reach out to private players,” said Samit Mehta, chief operating officer, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals, adding that the company was ready with 7 million tested and approved vaccine doses to be rolled out at short notice.

“The 7 million doses have been tested by the government lab in Kasauli (CDL) and ready to be rolled out,” said Mehta on Wednesday. The company has submitted trial protocol for booster dose of GEMCOVAC-19 with other vaccines, and also plans to conduct trials in the paediatric population parallel. “The subject expert committee will review and guide us through the process. For booster we have a candidate ready that is tweaked to address the Omicron variant,” said Mehta.

The company hasn’t made its phase 2/3 trial data public yet even though it is in the process of getting it published. “GEMCOVAC™-19 has reached the primary end point of Phase III clinical trial. The clinical data was evaluated by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. The vaccine was found to be safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic,” the company said.

7 million doses have been tested by the government lab in Kasauli (CDL) and ready to be rolled out. SAMIT MEHTA, chief operating officer, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals