Tag: Serum Institute

Serum Institute’s BCG vaccine approved by Indian govt for bladder cancer treatment in Canada

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

According to official sources, the government has granted approval for the export of the BCG vaccine, produced by the Serum Institute of India, to Canada.

The purpose of this export is to utilise the vaccine for immunotherapy in the treatment of bladder cancer.

The permission was sought by Prakash Kumar Singh, the director of the Serum Institute, who reached out to the Drugs Controller of India (DCGI) for the necessary approval.

BCG, in its capacity as an immunotherapy, is a freeze-dried preparation derived from a weakened strain of Mycobacterium bovis, commonly known as Bacillus Calmette Guerin.

The Serum Institute offers this product in two presentations: 40 mg and 80 mg.

The immunotherapy involves intravesical instillation, where the vaccine is administered directly into the bladder using a catheter.

It remains in the bladder lining for a specific duration, effectively targeting cancer cells without causing harm to other parts of the body.

The vaccine is also used to treat tuberculosis in humans. According to the World Health Organisation, it is used in countries with a high prevalence of TB to prevent childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease.

Earlier in April this year, Venus Pharma GmbH, the company’s German subsidiary, secured marketing authorisation from the UK for Cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug used as a first-line treatment for advanced ovarian cancer, testicular cancer and bladder carcinoma.

With agency inputs.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Biocon Biologics now valued at $6 billion versus $4.9 billion in 2021: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Biocon Biologics and Serum Institute of Life Sciences have reached an agreement to withdraw from the original equity structure contemplated under their strategic alliance announced in September 2021.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18 on the revised agreement, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Biologics Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said: “Investment in Biocon Biologics is now being done at a $6 billion valuation. The deal will include the complete portfolio of Serum’s vaccines.”

While Biocon Biologics had received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Karnataka, Serum Institute of Life Sciences was awaiting approval from the NCLT in Maharashtra to complete the merger. This would have provided Serum Institute of Life Sciences an equity stake in Biocon Biologics.

As per the new terms of the strategic alliance, Serum Life Sciences would make an additional equity investment of $150 million through the conversion of the $150 million loan provided to Biocon Pharma Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Biocon Limited, into equity in Biocon Biologics.

Also Read | Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw says Biocon in a position to pursue high growth trajectory | Interview

This investment is in addition to the $150 million that Serum Institute of Life Sciences had invested in Biocon Biologics in November 2022, resulting in Serum Institute of Life Sciences’ aggregate equity investment in Biocon Biologics amounting to $300 million.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, told CNBC-TV18 that $300 million is one of the largest investments made in a strategic alliance by the company. “We respect and admire the Biologics business built by Biocon.
Don’t know whether we will increase the investment in future. There may be future investment from other investors in Biocon Biologics but will not comment on increasing stake in Biocon Biologics,” he said.

He said the company has struck a profit-sharing agreement with Biocon Biologics, depending on the vaccination made. Poonawalla expects that the company would see revenue and EBITDA coming out of this deal in a year’s time.

As per the new arrangement, Biocon Biologics will have access to 100 million doses of vaccines annually together with the distribution rights to Serum’s vaccine portfolio, which will add to Biocon Biologics’ product portfolio for global markets.

“The new terms will serve the objectives of both the companies, as it provides Serum Institute of Life Sciences an aggregated equity investment in Biocon Biologics amounting to $300 million and provides Biocon Biologics additional product offerings for global markets,” Biocon said.

For more details, watch the accompanying video

Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

CCI approves Serum Institute Life Sciences-Biocon Biologics deal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved a proposed deal involving Serum Institute Life Sciences, Covidshield Technologies and Biocon Biologics.  Once the deal is complete, Serum Institute Life Sciences Pvt Ltd will have about 15 percent stake in Biocon Biologics Ltd, according to the notice filed with the regulator.

Covidshield Technologies Pvt Ltd (CTPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Serum Institute of Life Sciences, will be merged into Biocon Biologics.

In a tweet on Wednesday, the watchdog said it has cleared the “merger by absorption of Covidshield Technologies into Biocon Biologics in consideration for acquisition of approximately 15 percent equity shareholding of Biocon Biologics by Serum Institute Life Sciences.”

Also Read: Nuanced & calibrated time-bound interventions required to address competition issues in digital markets: CCI chief

CTPL was incorporated to undertake the business of marketing, selling and distributing vaccines, drugs and other pharmaceutical products.

Biocon Biologics Ltd is a subsidiary of Biocon Ltd. It offers treatment for chronic and acute diseases such as diabetes, oncology, nephrology, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. The company also has research and development centres and manufacturing facilities.

Deals beyond certain thresholds require approval from the CCI, which keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices in the market place.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SII urges govt to fast-track movement of increasing Covishield stock

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Serum Institute of India (SII) has urged the government to fast-track Covishield movement citing the difficulties being faced in production and cold chain space planning for other vaccines because of the increasing stock of its COVID-19 jab, official sources said on Sunday. Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, is learnt to have recently communicated to the Union Health Ministry that it has a manufactured stock of 24,89,15,000 Covishield doses and it is increasing every day.

In addition to the Covishield vaccine, the Pune-based firm also manufactures and supplies various life-saving vaccines to EPI, UNICEF and different countries, Singh is learnt to have told the ministry.

Also Read: Lucky draw among strategies planned to improve Covid vaccine coverage

“To fulfil our domestic and global supply commitments, we have to plan our production/cold chain space/human resource well in advance. In view of continuous increase in the stock of Covishield, we are facing a lot of difficulties in production/cold chain space/human resource planning for other life-saving vaccines,” an official source quoted Singh as having stated in the letter.

“In view of these facts, genuine difficulties and as this matter is directly concerned with the availability of various other life-saving vaccines in our country and the world at large, we request for your kind intervention for fast-track movement of our Covishield vaccine domestically and globally,” Singh is learnt to have stated. The Centre has allowed SII to export 50 Lakh doses of Covishied under the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to Nepal, Tajikistan and Mozambique. SII will also export Covishield to Bangladesh under COVAX, an official source said. The Serum Institute will commence its Covid vaccine export under the COVAX programme from November 23 and Nepal will receive the first lot of Covishiled on November 24. The government had in October permitted SII to export 10 lakh Covishield doses, each to Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh under the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

‘Execution’ the hardest part, says SII’s Adar Poonawalla on India’s vaccine century

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

As India hits 100 crore COVID-19 vaccination milestone, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, spoke about the milestone and what has been the hardest part in achieving this.

In conversation with CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, Poonawalla said, “Everything I could write a book, you have been with me on this journey ever since you started asking me why have you tied up, when are you going to get the vaccine, what stage is the trials in? Handling the public scrutiny and accountability which I am happy to do but that has been one of the challenges along with trying to get permissions to execute this sort of project on such a scale that even I have never had to do. I think it is a combination of all these things.

He added that execution was the hardest part. “Anyone can find the right partner, anyone can answer questions on a news channel, but executing in detail from the capex to the raw materials to the human resources, I think, was perhaps the most challenging, even for a company of our size. We have learned a lot of things going forward, which will help us for future pandemics as well. So, it was a combination of all of this.”

Read Here: Centre got over 65.25 crore Covishield doses, 9.1 crore Covaxin jabs till September 19

Serum Institute had taken advances from other countries early on because when the export restrictions came in, they had no choice but to return at least half of that money. Poonawalla said, “There were a number of countries, I don’t want to name them, but whether it is in our neighbourhood, and also some in Latin America, Africa, it was to the tune of around $200 million that we have had to return. Over the last six months or so, I think we have returned about $150 million. But we are now very well-funded because of the government, we got an advance of 30 percent from the government to handle our finances. In April-May, we were a little tight, and we had to borrow some money from banks. But again, that was only for a very short-term period, where then the Government of India stepped in and supported us, which I am very grateful for, and we work very well hand in hand to achieve all this is close coordination.”

On IPO, Poonawalla said, “We have been talking to some funds off the record. But again, we are looking for partners who would invest in the long term with us as strategic partners. So it is mainly sovereign wealth funds and others, not so much private equity funds.”

Also Read: India hits 100-crore vaccination mark: Key facts and timeline

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US FDA issues 7 observations to Lupin’s Goa plant; here’re possible impacts

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Lupin is under pressure after US FDA’s seven observations for its Goa plant. There was a huge reaction in 2017 when they were issued a warning letter for this particular plant. Since then the importance of this plant has reduced, nonetheless, it is still important.

The US FDA inspected the facility from September 6 to September 18. It was a long inspection that took place for two weeks, which is a normal course of action in the case of any facility with warning letters.

The company has said that they are confident of addressing the issue but the street is deterred by the fact that they already have a warning letter on this particular plant since 2017.

However, Lupin’s stock price fell over 4 percent during the day following the issuance of the observations.

Read Here: Lupin shares slump 4% after US FDA issues 7 observations to Goa unit

Analysts say they have reduced the dependence on the facility. But the problem is, according to the analysts, that they don’t know what the observations are – they could be benign, and the company could be easily getting out of the warning conditions.

The fact is that they already have many regulatory issues outstanding. The street is fearing that these observations could be serious that the warning letter will not be lifted, and hence, the regulatory woes will continue for Lupin.

So the amount that they get from this facility might not be that much but the fact is that the overarching theme is that the regulatory issues continue.

Also Read | Lupin settles lawsuit for Glumetza drug; details here

Nithya Balasubramanian, director of Sanford Bernstein, said, “I think it is a little disappointing because we have been hearing from the company about system-wide investments that they have been making in order to improve their compliance status in the plants. However, remember that if you have a warning letter, you can still supply the existing products for which you have approvals, it is just that the new products will not get approved from those plants.”

“For Lupin, I think most of their new products, which are likely to be material in the future have been filed from their new facility in Nagpur, some of them are from the respiratory inhaler facility they have in the US. So I think from an earnings perspective, and from the perspective of them being able to launch these important new products that we see in the future, I think this particular observation has little impact on that.”

“So I would say the minimal impact on future earnings. However, I think it is just, that the overhang is likely to remain given that they are just not able to lift the warning letter status.”

On Biocon and Serum Institute of India (SII) deal Balasubramanian said, “I think from the strategic intent perspective it makes sense. You have capabilities and large molecules, it is only natural to want to expand your target addressable market vaccines as well where the capabilities are very similar, both from a development and a manufacturing perspective.”

“Yes, I think they have also had concerns about their partner’s ability to execute and achieve the market shares anticipated with their biosimilars portfolio in the US. I think there were emerging concerns about a thinning pipeline possibly in the near term. So if you look at what they have in the pipeline. However, in normal times, the approver should have come through now. They are waiting for approvals only because FDA inspections haven’t happened right. So assuming these products do get approved in the near term, there is a fair bit of a gap in FY23-24 and 25 in terms of the biosimilars pipeline.”

“We have a couple of challenges with respect to the deal. One is, of course, the COVID vaccine opportunity. If the market is largely restricted to the booster market, we believe that will be restricted to individuals who are immunocompromised or individuals who are 65 years plus, and that kind of restricts how many products or how many doses they can sell in the second half of a FY23 and 24.”

“We think the demand will be restricted up to FY24. Beyond that the company hasn’t shared their plans on what products they have in the pipeline and what they intend to target. However, what is unclear to us right now is how between Serum Institute Life Sciences Private Limited (SILS) and Biocon Biologics Limited (BBL) how will the market demand be addressed. So, I think the lack of visibility on the commercialisation model mortality is a little bit of a concern right now.”

Watch accompanying video for more.

Also Read: Biocon-Serum Institute ties up for COVID, non-COVID vaccines

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SII informs Centre it will supply nearly 20 crore Covishield doses in Sep

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Serum Institute of India (SII) has informed the Centre that it will be able to supply around 20 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in September itself to Government to India and private hospitals, official sources said. The Pune-based SII has already supplied 12 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in August, they said.

Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at SII, Prakash Kumar Singh has communicated to the Union Health Ministry that the firm has further enhanced its production capacity and it will be able to supply approximately 20 crore doses of Covishield in September itself to Government of India and private hospitals, an official source said. In a production plan submitted to the Centre in May, SII’s director had communicated that the production of Covishield would be ramped up to 10 crore each in August and September, sources had said.

Later in May-end, Singh communicated to Union Home Minister Amit Shah that Covishield production would be ramped up to 10 crore doses in June. “We are committed to enhancing the production capacity of our Covishield vaccine and have been working round-the-clock in spite of various challenges being faced by us because of COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are pleased to inform that in the month of June we will be able to manufacture and supply nine to 10 crore doses of our Covishield vaccine to our country as compared to our present production capacity of 6.5 crore doses in May,” he had said in a communication to Shah.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

SII starts Covovax production; Adar Poonawalla sees ‘great potential’ to protect children

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has begun production of US-based biotechnology company Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine at its Pune facility. The recombinant nanoparticle protein-based vaccine — NVX-CoV2373 — has been branded Covovax in India.

Novavax had announced a manufacturing agreement with SII in September 2020.

The SII made the announcement through a tweet, “A new milestone has been reached; this week we began our first batch of Covovax (a COVID-19 vaccine developed by @Novavax) at our facility, here in Pune.” The tweet was accompanied by a photograph of SII CEO Adar Poonawalla at the production unit.

After the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield in India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Covovax will become the third vaccine to be tested on children in India.

Adar Poonawalla said the vaccine has “great potential” to protect children. “Excited to witness the first batch of Covovax (developed by @Novavax) being manufactured this week at our facility in Pune. The vaccine has great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing. Well done team @seruminstindia,” he tweeted.

Excited to witness the first batch of Covovax (developed by @Novavax) being manufactured this week at our facility in Pune. The vaccine has great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Trials are ongoing. Well done team @seruminstindia! pic.twitter.com/K4YzY6o73A

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) June 25, 2021

As per reports, Covovax can be stored in standard refrigerators (temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius), making it suitable for distribution in India.

The government expects approximately 20 crore doses of Covovax to be made available between August and December.

Earlier, Dr V.K. Paul, member, Niti Aayog, who heads India’s COVID-19 task force, had said the Novavax vaccine’s efficacy data was promising and that clinical trials being conducted in India were at an advanced stage.

The Novavax vaccine exhibited a 90.4 percent overall efficacy in phase 3 clinical trials, putting it in the same league as Pfizer-BioNTech (91.3 percent in phase 3 trials) and Moderna (90 percent) vaccines. The vaccine demonstrated 100 percent protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4 percent efficacy overall, and met the primary endpoint in its PREVENT-19 pivotal phase 3 trial, Novavax said in a statement.

The study was conducted on 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico to evaluate efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine, it added.

Covovax uses a tried and tested recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike protein. This is similar to the technology used to develop vaccines for hepatitis and influenza, among others.

Earlier, Novavax had said its production remains on track to reach manufacturing capacity of 100 million (10 crore) doses per month by the end of the third quarter of 2021, and 150 million (15 crore) doses per month by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Centre may renegotiate COVID-19 vaccine prices, says report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the Centre would buy 75 percent of doses from vaccine makers and distribute them among states for free, a fresh round of price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies is expected, a report suggested.

Following the revision in the COVID-19 vaccination policy for the country, the Centre is likely to engage in renegotiations on the prices of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield, The Indian Express has reported quoting people familiar with the matter.

The report said that the revised procurement price per dose, which is currently Rs 150 for both the vaccines, is yet to be decided under the new system and the Centre is finalising the contours of the pricing.

In his address to the nation on June 7, Modi had announced that the Centre would buy 75 percent of doses from vaccine makers, including 25 percent of the state quota. They would then be handed over to the states free of cost. The private sector was allowed to buy from the remaining 25 percent.

The Prime Minister also announced that every citizen above the age of 18 will be vaccinated for free from June 21 at the Centre and state government’s vaccination centres.

The announcement came after the Supreme Court called the government’s previous vaccination policy “arbitrary and irrational”.

The new vaccination programme is expected to cost Rs 50,000 crore to the Centre. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget address in early February had announced that Rs 35,000 crore had been allocated for vaccination and it could be increased if needed.

Until April, the prices of both Covishield and Covaxin were capped at Rs 250 per dose for private hospitals which had to procure vaccines through the government. The prices weren’t revised when the vaccination drive was extended to people between the age group of 18-44.

However, when the Centre decentralised vaccine procurement in April, both SII and Bharat Biotech were allowed to fix their own prices for states and private healthcare facilities. The vaccine manufacturers had initially priced their vaccines at Rs 400 and Rs 600 respectively for states and Rs 600 and Rs 1,200 respectively for private facilities. Following backlash, the prices for states were slashed to Rs 300 per dose of Covishield and Rs 400 per dose of Covaxin.

After Modi’s announcement, the Health Ministry had fixed service charges for hospitals at Rs 150 which means a dose of Covishield costs Rs 780 and Rs 1,410 for a Covaxin shot in private hospitals, based on the current prices of the vaccine manufacturers.

Priced at Rs 1,410 for private sector, Coavaxin is now the third most expensive vaccine in the world, after China’s Sinopharm (Rs 2,080) and Pfizer (Rs 1,423). Sinopharm and Pfizer are not yet available in India. This contradicts the claims of Krishna Ella, Bharat Biotech’s founder and MD, who in August 2020 had said that a dose of Covaxin would cost less than the water bottle.

In a media briefing, Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said the Centre had placed an advance order for 44 crore additional doses of vaccines. The comprises of 25 crore doses of Covishield and 19 crore doses of Covaxin and they will be delivered between August and December.

Paul did not mention the price at which Centre will be buying the doses in the latest order. Officials familiar with the matter told The Hindustan Times that there is a possibility that the Rs 150 per dose cost of vaccine may no longer be applicable, and that the Centre may have to pay more.

SII CEO Adar Poonawalla had earlier told CNBC-TV18 that his company was losing money by selling the vaccine for Rs 150 per dose. “We are losing money at the Central government’s mandated price of Rs 150 per dose. We have to pay 50 percent of the price to AstraZeneca as royalty,” Poonawalla said.

The Health Ministry had said nearly 12 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines would be available for domestic use in June. Serum Institute, in a letter, had said that it expects to supply 9-10 crore doses of Covishield in June. Bharat Biotech on the other hand, is expected to supply nearly 10 crore doses of Covaxin by September.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19: SII seeks permission to manufacture Sputnik V vaccine in India

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has sought permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to manufacture the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in India. The Russian vaccine is currently being imported by Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which will soon manufacture it here.

If all goes well, Sputnik V will be the third vaccine to be manufactured by Pune-based SII after Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine, known as Covishield in India, and Novovax’s Covovax, which has not received regulatory clearance from the US.

Once the SII receives the permission to manufacture Sputnik V, an emergency use authorisation (EUA) would also be required, according to a Financial Express report.

Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, an adenoviral-based two-part vaccine, has been developed by Gamaleya National Research Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology. Dr Reddy’s had received permission from the DCGI to import the Sputnik V vaccine for restricted use in emergencies in April. In fact, a consignment of three million doses of Sputnik V landed at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on June 1.

Gamaleya Institute has also introduced a single-shot vaccine dose of Sputnik Light, which it claimed has an efficacy of around 80 percent against the Covid-19 virus. Sputnik Light will be cheaper than the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine.

According to a TOI report, India has received 56.6 tonnes of Sputnik V doses. This is the biggest import consignment of COVID-19 vaccines in India. The vaccine has been authorised by 68 countries so far.

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute plans to produce 100 million doses of Covishield vaccines by July. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has claimed that 100 million doses will be ready by July end, out of which 50 percent will be given to the Central government and the rest to the private sector and the state governments.

For COVID-19 live updates, click here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow