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

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

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

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$100 million investment

Serum Institute said in June it was investing USD 100 million on the vaccine being developed at Oxford University. Serum Institute partnered with AstraZeneca to ensure equitable distribution of the 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 the trials are completed successfully for safety and efficacy, vaccines will not be distributed either in India or anywhere else in the 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 the firm's plans to move ahead in terms of production of the 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 the recovery rate to 72.51 percent. Also, the ICMR is increasing the capacity of COVID-19 tests by the day, with almost 9 lakh tests done on Monday, maximum till date.

(With PTI inputs)

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