Seven Domestic Pharma Companies In The Race To Develop Covid-19 Vaccine

The coronavirus pandemic has put the whole world on hold since its increase in global spread in March. The daily lives of citizens in majority of the countries have been disrupted by the virus. To tackle this, top scientists, health organizations and medical agencies are making efforts to develop a vaccine as soon as possible. Even domestic pharmaceutical companies from India have started working to develop a vaccine to counter the deadly virus. The seven Indian pharma firms include Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E. 

The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s vaccine candidate Covaxin has received approval from the Indian drug regulator to conduct phase-1 and phase-2 clinical trials. The firm has developed the vaccine in partnership with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institution of Virology (NIV). It has been reported in the media that the pharma firm has started its human clinical trials since last week. 

Serum Institute of India has said in a media statement that they are working on a vaccine which is in its phase-3 clinical trial. The company said that they will start human clinical trials by the next month, and are hoping to develop the vaccine by the end of this year. On the other hand, pharma agency Zydus Cadila has said that in the next seven months, they are looking forward to completing the clinical trials for their vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D. The company has started its human clinical trials last week as well. 

While it has been reported that Panacea Biotec has collaborated with a US-based firm to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, Indian Immunologicals has agreed to partner with an Australian University to do the same. As per other media reports, Biological E and Mynvax are also working hard on developing a vaccine. 

The deadly coronavirus has affected over 14 million people worldwide. India is the third worst-hit country in the world with over 11 lakh Covid-19 cases. As of Sunday, the country's death toll has reached 27,497. Despite these numbers, the Union Health Ministry said in media reports that India's fatality rate is progressively falling and is currently at 2.49%, which is one of the lowest in the world.