As COVID-19 cases rise sharply and vaccination drive is being accelerated, Bharat Biotech is increasing its manufacturing capacity of COVID-19 vaccine- Covaxin to 700 million doses per annum. According to an official release by the company, the facilities in Hyderabad and Bangalore will be scaling up the production to meet the set target and the production will be done in a stepwise manner. In the press note, Bharat Biotech said that newly designed BSL– 3 manufacturing facilities allowed the company to produce vaccines and expand production in a short period of time/
It is to note that Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine which is highly safe but complex and expensive when it comes to manufacturing. The company is now exploring some manufacturing partnerships with partners across countries who have expertise in commercial scaling of inactivated viral vaccines, that too under biosafety containment.
The firm based out of Hyderabad highlights its partnership with Indian Immunologicals (IIL), who will manufacture the drug substance needed for Covaxin. IIL is equipped to handle manufacturing of activated viral vaccines at commercial scale and therefore, the technology transfer process is currently going on. Everything will be done under biosafety containment, the company added.
The proprietary adjuvant Algel-IMDG is claimed to be a safe and effective adjuvant that can stimulate memory T cell responses. Also, the commercialisation of novel adjuvant is a first in India.
Meanwhile, indegenous vaccine Covaxin has been given Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs) for treating Coronavirus in India as well as some other countries. Currently, the company is in talks with 60 countries for Covaxin. So far, Philippines, Mexico, Paraguay, Iran, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela, Guyana, Zimbabwe and Botswana are among some countries who gave a green signal for Covaxin.
The US and some European countries are also given proposals for the approval of Covaxin usage. The international price for this Indian vaccine has been decided at 15-20 US dollars per dose.
