Besides Covaxin, BharatBiotech has been actively engaged on growing one other vaccine, for which it has tied up with Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine in St Louis for the novel “chimp-adenovirus” (Chimpanzee adenovirus), a single dose intra nasal vaccine for Covid-19.
“BBV154 (intranasal Covid-19 vaccine), preclinical testing has been accomplished for toxicology, immunogenicity and problem research. These research have been carried out in the USA and India. Phase I human medical trials will start throughout Feb-March 2021,” an electronic mail reply from the city-based vaccine maker informed PTI.
Phase I human medical trials can be carried out in India, Bharat Biotech added.
The firm is specializing in the intranasal vaccine as the present vaccines require two dose intramuscular injectionsKrishna Ella, Chairman, Bharat Biotech
The Phase-1 trials can be carried out in Saint Louis University’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, the corporate sources mentioned including Bharat Biotech owns the rights to distribute the vaccine in all markets besides USA, Japan and Europe.
Krishna Ella, Chairman of Bharat Biotech had earlier mentioned the corporate is specializing in the intranasal vaccine as the present vaccines require two-dose intramuscular injections and a rustic like India wants 2.6 billion syringes and needles which can add up to air pollution.
An intranasal vaccine is not going to solely be easy to administer however scale back the use of medical consumables comparable to needles, syringes, and so on., considerably impacting the general price of a vaccination drive, he had mentioned.
“One drop of vaccine in every of the nostrils is enough,” he had mentioned.
An intranasal vaccine is not going to solely be easy to administer however scale back the use of medical consumables comparable to needles, syringesElla
According to him, preserving a number of points in thoughts BharatBiotechtied up withWashingtonUniversitySchool of Medicine for the single-dose intra nasal vaccine for Covid-19. He had mentioned Bharat Biotech envisions that it could scale this vaccine to one billion doses, translating into equal quantity of people being vaccinated receiving a single-dose routine.
BharatBiotech, upon acquiring required regulatory approval, will pursue additional phases of medical trials in India and undertake giant scale manufacture of the vaccine at its GMP (good manufacturing observe) facility positioned in Genome Valley, right here, the corporate had earlier mentioned.
The intranasal vaccine candidate has proven unprecedented ranges of safety in mice research and the know-how and information having been already printed in the celebrated scientific journal ‘Cell’ and in an editorial in ‘Nature’, the corporate had mentioned.
Bharat Biotech has efficiently accomplished enrollment of 25,800 volunteers for the Phase-3 trials of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin.