Zydus Cadilla starts work on vaccine for Delta variant

Apart from expecting to deliver 30-50 million doses of ZYCOV-D —

India’s first vaccine for children aged 12-18 between October and

January — Zydus

Cadila will now start work on developing a version for the Delta variant and start trials on children aged three years and above.

Given that the delivery system of this vaccine is significantly more expensive, compared to the conventional injection-needle system, sources close to the development claimed that the price could be lower than

Covaxin in the private market.

ZYCOV-D will be delivered using a special injector that will use a specialised syringe or ‘applicator’. While each injector could be used thousands of times, the applicator is new for each shot.

The cost of the injector roughly works out to be around ~5-7 per dose, sources claimed. The applicator price is additional. The company did not wish to comment on the pricing strategy. Zydus Cadila has said it will work closely with the government to deliver as many doses as it requires and the balance would go to the private sector.

Zydus Cadila Healthcare Managing Director Sharvil Patel said that the deoxyribonucleic acid plasmid vaccine platform is a plug-andplay type, where developing a targeted vaccine for a specific variant is easy. It can be easily adapted to change the virus strain or the genes of the antigens injected. “We are planning to develop variants specific to the Delta variant. Work will begin soon,” said Patel.

Meanwhile, the company also plans to start work on trials on children aged 3-11 years and is developing the protocol. Patel feels this could be an ‘open label’ trial if the regulator approves, which means that no child will get a placebo. Such trials, in which everyone receives a vaccine shot, can be completed quickly. Each dose of ZYCOV-D will be two shots in two arms using a needle-free injection system.

US start-up Pharmajet has tied up with Zydus Cadila, which will exclusively administer the vaccine through a system called Pharmajet Tropis needle-free injection system. The feel of the prick is even less than the feel of an insulin pen shot. “The applicator delivers the vaccine in the dermis (skin) and not in the muscle. This makes it significantly less painful,” said Patel. The system comprises an injector which can be used multiple times, a one-time use applicator and a filling adaptor. The applicator takes in the metered dose — 100 microlitre of the vaccine — and delivers it at the click of a button of the pen. Vaccinating staff will need some brief training before they can use the delivery system.

Zydus is having the applicator contract manufactured in Singapore and is assembling the product in Ahmedabad. It may soon bring the applicator manufacturing

to India too.

Experts in the syringe industry say the syringe is not cheap, but say it is possible the price could be lower, given the large volumes required in India. While very little details on the pricing are known, some reports say that the injector costs around $100 in the international market and the applicator (which is designed differently from a normal one-time needle syringe) costs anything between 30 cents and $1.