COVID-19 crisis: DCGI permits clinical trials of Gennova-Dept of Biotechnology vaccine

In a boost to India's fight against COVID-19, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted clearance to another vaccine candidate to initiate clinical trials. Making this announcement on Tuesday, Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog stated that this vaccine is being manufactured by Gennova Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in association with the Indian government's Department of Biotechnology. Mentioning that the technology used in this vaccine is the same as the Pfizer vaccine, he stated that the Gennova vaccine can be stored in a normal fridge. 

At present, 6 vaccine candidates are in the clinical trial stage in India with some of them likely to get licensed in the next few weeks. This includes Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine, the Covaxin vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the Covishield vaccine. Currently, there are 99,06,165 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 94,22,636 patients have been discharged and 1,43,709 fatalities have been reported.

NITI Aayog's Dr. VK Paul remarked, "This week, the Drugs Controller General of India has granted clearance for clinical trials for one more candidate vaccine from India. This is an Indian vaccine. It has been useful enough and effective enough in terms of its biological functions to be taken for Clinical Trial Phase I and Phase II. And an important part of this vaccine is that unlike the Pfizer vaccine and some others, this vaccine- if it comes into existence, will be maintainable at normal cold chain conditions in a normal fridge." 

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"There are three vaccines now- Bharat Biotech- ICMR vaccine, Zydus Cadila vaccine and the Gennova-HDT vaccine. Three other vaccines are undergoing trials- Serum, Sputnik V and Biological E. Currently, 6 vaccines are undergoing clinical trials in our nation," he added. 

PM Modi reviews vaccine development

Earlier on November 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a three-city tour to conduct an extensive review of the vaccine development and manufacturing process. He visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune. Expressing pride in the fact that India's indigenous vaccine development has progressed at a rapid pace, he asked the scientists for their suggestions to enhance the vaccine distribution process. 

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