Pharmaceuticals firm Biological E Ltd (BE) on Saturday said its Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax has been cleared by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) as a booster for the 18 plus after their primary vaccination with two doses of either Covishield or Covaxin.
With this, Corbevax becomes the first vaccine approved as a heterologous Covid-19 booster. This means that adults fully vaccinated with Covishield or Covaxin can take Corbevax as their third or booster shot.
The Corbevax booster dose can be given six months after administration of the second shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Recently, BE furnished its clinical trials data to the DCGI which after a evaluation and deliberations with the Subject Experts Committee, granted their approval for administering Corbevax as a heterologous booster dose to people who have been vaccinated.
The BE’s clinical trial data showed that its Corbevax booster dose provided significant enhancement in immune response and excellent safety profile required for an effective booster.
Mahima Datla, Managing Director of Biological E Ltd, said, “We are very happy with this approval, which will address the need for Covid-19 booster doses in India. We have crossed yet another milestone in our Covid-19 vaccination journey. This approval reflects once again the sustained world class safety standards and high immunogenicity of Corbevax.”
Biological E cuts price of its Covid vaccine to Rs 250 per dose.
Biological E had earlier said the price of Corbevax has been reduced to ?250 from ?840 a dose, inclusive of GST, for private vaccination centres.
It would result in end users paying a price of ?400 a dose, including taxes and administration charges, the company had said in a statement.
Previously, in private vaccination centres the overall cost to end users of the vaccine was ?990 a dose, including taxes and administration charges, it added.
In April this year, India’s drug regulator had granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) for Biological E’s Corbevax for children in the 5 to 12 years group along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the age group of 6 to 12 years.