ZYDUS CADILA JAB GETS NOD

New Delhi: An expert panel of India’s central drug authority has recommended granting emergency use authorisation to Zydus Cadila's three-dose COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D, sources said.

Zydus Cadila has received emergency use authorisation from the Drug Controller General of India for its ZyCoV-D.

This is the world’s first and India’s indigenously developed DNA-based vaccine for Covid-19 to be administered to both adults and children of 12 years and above.

Vaccines Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V are being given to only those above 18 years of age and unlike ZyCoV-D, which is three-dose, these are administered in two doses.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said that ZyCoV-D is the world’s first DNA-based vaccine against the coronavirus and when injected produces the spike protein of the SARSCoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response, which plays a vital role in protection from the disease as well as viral clearance.

The “plug-and-play” technology on which the plasmid DNA platform is based can be easily adapted to deal with mutations in the virus, such as those already occurring, it said.

ZyCoV-D is a needlefree vaccine administered using PharmaJet, an applicator that ensures painless intradermal vaccine delivery, Zydus Cadila has said.

The DBT said that Interim results from Phase-III clinical trials in over 28,000 volunteers, showed primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases.

This has been the largest vaccine trial so far in India for Covid-19, it said.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) on Friday said it had submitted an application to the Indian drug regulator to conduct a study of its Covid19 vaccine in adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years.

The US pharmaceutical giant said it was committed to facilitating global equitable access to its Covid-19 vaccine and recognised the unmet needs of children.

India on Friday reported 36,571 fresh Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, pushing the case tally to 3,23,58,829. The death toll rose to

4,33,589, with 540 more deaths in the same time period.

Active Covid-19 cases have, meanwhile, fallen to 3,63,605, the lowest in

150 days, and are 1.12 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the Union health ministry said.