The chairman and MD Krishna Ella said on Tuesday that Bharat Biotech is likely to initiate Phase 1 trials of the intranasal vaccine. Ella said his firm is setting up two more facilities for manufacturing vaccines, including for Covaxin.
According to a PTI report, he said, “I think it will enter into Phase 1 (next month) because it is going to be a single-dose vaccine.” The clinical trial process is also going to be faster," during an interactive session with Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson of Bengaluru-based Biocon Limited.
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Ella said as the upcoming vaccines for COVID-19 require two-dose intramuscular injections, a country like India needs 2.6 billion syringes and needles which may add up to pollution. He explained that keeping several issues in mind Bharat Biotech tied up with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for a novel "chimp-adenovirus" (Chimpanzee adenovirus), a single-dose intranasal vaccine for Covid-19.
While the Phase I trials will take place in Saint Louis University's Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, Bharat Biotech, upon obtaining the required regulatory approval, will pursue further stages of clinical trials in India and undertake large scale manufacture of the vaccine at its GMP facility located in Genome Valley, here, BB had earlier said.
Bharat Biotech is also developing India's first indigenous vaccine candidate, Covaxin, with the Indian Council of Medical Research, on Monday requested for approval of its vaccine. Bharat Biotech is the third drugmaker to request government approval of its Covid vaccine. 64 ambassadors and high commissioners of various countries are visiting two key biotech companies in Hyderabad that are developing vaccines against coronavirus. They first stopped at Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech.