Three Indian vaccines are in various trial stages and two under development

Five Covid-19 vaccine producing companies of India have reported the stages of each vaccine under development. Two of these have not yet entered the clinical trial stage while the other three which are being manufactured by SII, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila are already being tested.

According to a report in The Print, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration met representatives of the five companies on Monday to review the situation.

The manufacturers are expecting to bring the vaccine into the market by the end of this year. The companies which have not yet entered the clinical trial stage are Gennova Biopharmaceuticals of Pune and Bilogical E at Hyderabad.

According to The Print report, Gennova Biopharmaceuticals has tied up with HDT Biotech Corporation, a Seattle based company to develop an mRNA vaccine candidate called HGCO19, which has demonstrated safety, power to enable tissues and cells to create immunity against the disease, neutralization antibody activity in the rodent and non-human primate models.

Gennova Biopharmaceuticals recently formed a tie-up with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to develop the first of its kind mRNA vaccine in India to fight the COVID19.

The report by The Print, further states that Biological E has just announced tying up with Johnson and Johnson for the manufacture of a vaccine. In its statement, it has clarified that it has just entered an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutical companies under Johnson and Johnson to take manufacture of Ad26.COV2.S to the next level in India.

The rest of the three are already under some trial out of which one is under third stage of trial that is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India and developed by Oxford University. The SII has also declared the price of the product to be Rs. 225, once it comes to the market.

Another vaccine called Covaxin is under development by Bharat Biotech and is under trial phases 1 and 2 across the country. The third vaccine under stage 1 and 2 trial across the country is Zycov D, being developed by Zydus Cadila, which according to the company may be brought in by the beginning of 2021, the report said.