India's vaccine Covaxin by Bharat Biotech draws global attention; interests Lancet: ICMR

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday said that the Indian-made vaccine against COVID-19, Covaxin, has drawn global attention. In a tweet, the ICMR said, "India's indigenous vaccine against #COVID19 Covaxin-a product of ICMR-Bharat Biotech collaboration, achieves the remarkable feat. Data generated from within India underlines impressive safety and immunogenicity profile of Covaxin and sparks Lancet's interest in publishing them."

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ICMR: Bharat Biotech's Covaxin draws global attention

The ICMR also said, "Encouraging Phase I and Phase II COVAXIN trial results have paved the path for Phase III Clinical Trial in India, which is currently ongoing at 22 sites." This announcement comes after the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) based in New Delhi on Thursday invited volunteers for the Phase III clinical trials of indigenously developed Coronavirus vaccine candidate 'Covaxin' for which it is or of the sites. 

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"AIIMS, New Delhi is a site for COVAXIN Phase III clinical trial. This is a whole-virion inactivated vaccine co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech," AIIMS said in an advertisement. AIIMS Centre for Community Medicine, Dr Sanjay K Rai informed through the advertisement that Phase I/II trials (safety and immunogenicity) have already been completed. 

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Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine 'Covaxin'

Covaxin, Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, has shown antibody and T-cell response in trials among volunteers at three-month follow-ups as well as tolerable safety outcomes, the phase 1 and 2 clinical trial study released on Wednesday said. Covaxin is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, is now undergoing phase-3 trials.

The six vaccine candidates which are in various stages of the clinical trial are - Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Sputnik V, NVX-CoV2373 and recombinant protein antigen-based vaccine, according to the Health Ministry. In addition to the above six which are in various trial stages, the following three are in pre-clinical trial stages - HGCO 19, inactivated rabies vector platform and Vesiculo Vax platform.

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