The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that the Indian vaccine against the novel coronavirus, Covaxin, has drawn global attention.
In a tweet, the ICMR said, “India’s indigenous vaccine against #COVID19 Covaxin-a product of ICMR-Bharat Biotech collaboration, achieves remarkable feat. Data generated from within India underlines impressive safety and immunogenicity profile of Covaxin and sparks Lancet’s interest in publishing them.”
𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-19 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐬 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. The results of the #COVAXIN Phase-2 human clinical trials can be accessed at https://t.co/jjl1WifW2q pic.twitter.com/VKfvjeZuOE
— ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) December 24, 2020
The ICMR said, “Encouraging Phase I and Phase II COVAXIN trial results have paved the path for Phase III Clinical Trial in India, which is currently ongoing at 22 sites.”
On Thursday, AIIMS Delhi invited volunteers for the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covaxin. “AIIMS, New Delhi is a site for COVAXIN Phase III clinical trial. This is a whole-virion inactivated vaccine co-sponsored by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Bharat Biotech,” AIIMS said in an advertisement.
The last date of enrolment is December 31, 2020.
Covaxin, Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine candidate, has shown antibody and T-cell response in trials among volunteers at three-month follow-ups as well as tolerable safety outcomes, the phase 1 and 2 clinical trial study released on Wednesday said.
Covaxin is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, is now undergoing phase-3 trials.
According to the Health Ministry, the six vaccine candidates which are in various stages of the clinical trial are – Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Sputnik V, NVX-CoV2373 and recombinant protein antigen-based vaccine.
In addition to the above six which are in various trial stages, the following three are in pre-clinical trial stages – HGCO 19, inactivated rabies vector platform and Vesiculo Vax platform.