NEW DELHI, Oct 23, 2020 (BSS/XINHUA) – Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech said the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin is likely to be at least 60 percent effective.
“The benchmark for the efficacy of our anti-COVID-19 vaccine is 60 percent. We will be conducting the largest Phase 3 trial for Covaxin, and the efficacy results should be available by early April-May, 2021,” Sai Prasad, executive director, Bharat Biotech International Limited was quoted by local newspaper Hindustan Times as saying.
Reports said late Thursday Bharat Biotech received approval from the drugs controller general of India (DCGI) to conduct a Phase 3 clinical trial to establish the efficacy of their vaccine candidate. The interim results of the Phase 3 trial are likely to be released by April or May next year.
Covaxin has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) — National Institute of Virology (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The company is looking at a production capacity of about 150 million doses annually, while the cost of the vaccine is yet to be decided.
India’s federal health minister recently said the COVID-19 vaccine would likely be available in India by early next year.
The number of cases in India, the second worst-hit country by the pandemic, is increasing with each passing day. The federal health ministry on Friday said the number of COVID-19 cases in India reached 7,761,312 and the death toll rose to 117,306.