Even as its Covid-19 COVAXIN enters Phase II human clinical trials in India, Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech on Wednesday announced inking a pact with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for a novel chimp-adenovirus, single dose intranasal vaccine for the coronavirus.
Bharat Biotech owns the rights to distribute the vaccine in all markets except USA, Japan and Europe.
While the Phase I trials will take place in Saint Louis University’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, Bharat Biotech, upon obtaining the required regulatory approval, will pursue further stages of clinical trials in India and undertake large scale manufacture of the vaccine at its GMP facility located in Genome Valley, Hyderabad.
“We are proud to collaborate on this innovative vaccine. We envision that we will scale this vaccine to 1 billion doses, translating to 1 billion individuals vaccinated receiving a single-dose regimen. An intranasal vaccine will not only be simple to administer but reduce the use of medical consumables such as needles, syringes, etc., significantly impacting the overall cost of a vaccination drive,” said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.