Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist.
“While Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each,” Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, told Press Trust of India.
“Vaccine development is a lengthy process which takes years, with many challenges,” said E. Sreekumar, chief scientific officer at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Kerala.
“Generally, vaccines take several months to pass different stages of testing, and then approvals also take time. For Covid-19, we don’t expect a vaccine this year,” Rakesh Mishra, director of CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, said.
“Phase 1 trials are small-scale, usually involving few participants, to assess whether the vaccine is safe for humans. Phase 2 trials often involve several hundred subjects, and mainly evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine against the disease,” he said.
The final phase involves thousands of people to further assess the efficacy of the vaccine over a defined period of time, and can last several months, Sreekumar said.
Though Kang named six companies, the WHO has listed only Zydus Cadila and Serum Institute from India as among the global firms working on a Covid-19 vaccine.
“While Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each,” Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, told Press Trust of India.
“Vaccine development is a lengthy process which takes years, with many challenges,” said E. Sreekumar, chief scientific officer at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Kerala.
“Generally, vaccines take several months to pass different stages of testing, and then approvals also take time. For Covid-19, we don’t expect a vaccine this year,” Rakesh Mishra, director of CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, said.
Phase-Wise Development
Vaccine testing typically begins with animals in the lab before going on to different stages of human clinical trials. “The human testing phase is composed of many phases,” Sreekumar told PTI.“Phase 1 trials are small-scale, usually involving few participants, to assess whether the vaccine is safe for humans. Phase 2 trials often involve several hundred subjects, and mainly evaluate the efficacy of the vaccine against the disease,” he said.
The final phase involves thousands of people to further assess the efficacy of the vaccine over a defined period of time, and can last several months, Sreekumar said.
Though Kang named six companies, the WHO has listed only Zydus Cadila and Serum Institute from India as among the global firms working on a Covid-19 vaccine.
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