New Delhi: The country’s largest pharmaceutical company, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), has started the Phase III trial of the Kovavax vaccine from June 18. The company may soon apply for approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). The Serum Institute conducted a trial of this vaccine on children in August 2020 by the US vaccine company Novavax Inc. Announced a license agreement with The Kovid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax has been named ‘Kovovax’ in India.
According to Serum Institute officials, “Initially, we will apply to DCGI for clinical trials in children aged 12 to 18 years. After that we will seek approval for clinical trials of Kovovax on children below 12 years of age. Serum Institute is currently producing the ‘Covshield’ vaccine in the country. ‘Kovavax’ is the second vaccine being developed by it and is currently in the clinical trial phase.
Poonawalla tweets on production of first batch of Kovavax
Earlier on Friday, the company’s CEO Adar Poonawalla had tweeted about the production of the first batch of Kovavax in Pune. He said in his tweet, “We have achieved a new milestone. Production of the first batch of Kovavax has started in Pune this week. I am very excited about this.”
He also added, “This vaccine has great potential to protect our future generations below the age of 18. Its trials are still going on.” Earlier, Poonawalla had said in another tweet that, he hopes to make Kovavax available to the public by September this year.