India to enhance manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines

India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has granted permission to private manufacturers for three coronavirus vaccines for restricted use in emergency situations.

These vaccines are ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 corona virus vaccine (recombinant), developed by AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), manufactured by the Serum Institute of India; whole virion-inactivated corona virus vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech International; and Gam-COVID-Vac combined with Russian developed vector vaccine Sputnik-V, manufactured by Ra (biologicals) Panacea Biotec.

The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has informed that to support vaccine manufacturing in India, the Indian government launched 'Mission COVID Suraksha- the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission,' being implemented by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking of DBT.

Under the mission, clinical trial and manufacturing of promising vaccine candidates including DNA vaccine candidate (Zydus Cadila); mRNA vaccine candidate (Gennova Biopharmaceuticals); and intranasal vaccine candidate (Bharat Biotech) are being supported, said Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Supported under Mission COVID Suraksha

As part of efforts to augment Covaxin production, capacity enhancement of Bharat Biotech is being supported under Mission COVID Suraksha. In addition, technology transfer of Covaxin production from Bharat Biotech to Gujarat COVID Vaccine Consortium, comprising Hester Biosciences and OmniBRx Biotechnologies, is being facilitated by DBT, Mandaviya told Parliament.

Newer vaccines are also being planned to be included in the COVID-19 immunisation activities, which are expected to further improve availability.

The CDSCO has received another four applications for grant of approval for restricted use in emergency situations. The vaccines are Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Vaccine (recombinant) of Cadila Healthcare (BOM: 532321); SARS-CoV-2 rS Protein (COVID-19) recombinant spike protein Nanoparticle Vaccine of Serum Institute; Gam-COVID-Vac Combined vector vaccine (Sputnik V) manufactured by Hetero; and Sputnik Light Vector vaccine from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (BSE: 500124).

Speaking at a virtual conference organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, said the company’s facilities in four cities: Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune and Ankaleshwar, were currently producing Covaxin, and that the company is committed to supply 500 million doses to the government's immunization program.