India’s Serum Institute First To Test Coronavirus Vaccine

Human Trials Expected In Six Months

Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd (SII) – the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally – announced that a vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is expected to progress to human trials phase within six months. The vaccine candidate developed by SIIPL, which is owned by Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, in partnership with American Biotechnology firm Codagenix, has progressed to the pre-clinical tests phase, i.e. the animal trial phase.

The global pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected lives of millions of people globally. While several efforts have been made to find a cure and control the outbreak, this is the first vaccine-virus strain to progress to the pre-clinical trial phase. As per media reports, speaking about the development, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, said, “I am glad to share that our combined efforts with the team at Codagenix have borne fruit, and we hope to save millions of lives with this vaccine. This breakthrough also shows the country’s preparedness to counter global epidemics like the novel coronavirus.”  He also said that the vaccine candidate has been developed using a laboratory-made synthetic virus, which is an important breakthrough as it will significantly reduce the time taken to build a shield against the virus.

“We hope to be ready with the vaccine by early 2022. Our vaccine-virus strain is identical to the original virus and can generate a robust immune response. By August-end, we will have data on mice and primates to submit to regulatory authorities to enter into the human trials phase,” he added. The vaccine-virus strain will be the fastest ‘Made in India’ vaccine to progress to the human trials phase within six months. The cost of the project is approximately Rs. 300 crores.  SII aims to get external funding for the project via global associates.

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