India’s Covaxin works against new UK Covid strain

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech said its vaccine is efficient against the mutant strain of novel Coronavirus found in the UK while announcing that its data would be made public within a week.

CMD Dr Krishna Ella addressing a virtual press conference said: “we have taken 3 - 4 strains and studied it. It will come in publication on Medrevix on January 10. In a week’s time, our confirmative data would come.”

Ella hailed the decision of the Indian drug regulator to approve Covaxin for emergency restricted use and termed it as a giant leap for innovation and novel product development in India

Covaxin, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech, is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV). The inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (Bio-safety Level 3) bio-containment facility.

India’s drug regulator has allowed restricted use of Covaxin in an emergency situation.

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.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) had said that the data available to date showed that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is “safe” for administration.

During the press conference, Ella hailed the decision of the Indian drug regulator to approve Covaxin for emergency restricted use and termed it as a giant leap for innovation and novel product development in India.