Serum Institute identifies 10 centres to start phase 2 trials of Oxford's COVID vaccine

Serum Institute of India said it would start phase-II trials of COVID-19 vaccine which is under development by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University. Serum Institute, largest vaccine manufacturer in world, has partnered with AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical major from UK, for mass manufacturing of Oxford developed COVID-19 vaccine.

Ten centres have been shortlisted by Serum Institute to host phase 2 and 3 of vaccine trial by AstraZeneca.  development comes a day after meeting by Niti Aayog member V K Paul and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan with presence of representatives from Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila. Discussions on present st of vaccines were held in meeting.

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$100 million investment

Serum Institute said in June it was investing USD 100 million on vaccine being developed at Oxford University. Serum Institute partnered with AstraZeneca to ensure equitable distribution of  AZD1222 vaccine doses to India as well as low-and-middle-income countries.

"Our manufacturing facility is ready and we plan to start production in two months. We are spending more than USD 100 million for this facility. Till trials are completed successfully for safety and efficacy, vaccines will t be distributed eir in India or anywhere else in world," Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India (SII), said in June.

"Having said that we will start making a few millions of doses and stockpiling it at personal risk," added Poonawalla, while plying to a question on firm's plans to move ahead in terms of production of doses.

Meanwhile, India's Covid count has risen to 26,47,664 infections, of which 6,76,900 cases are active and 50,921 fatalities while 19,19,842 people have recovered, improving recovery rate to 72.51 percent. Also, ICMR is increasing capacity of COVID-19 tests by day, with almost 9 lakh tests done on Monday, maximum till date.

(With PTI inputs)

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