Drug developer Ocugen Inc said on Tuesday it had partnered with Bharat Biotech to co-develop the India-based company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate for the U.S. market.
The vaccine candidate, Covaxin, showed it was safe and triggered immune responses in an ongoing early-stage trial on Wednesday and is currently part of a late-stage trial in India.
Under the partnership terms, Ocugen said it would have U.S. rights to the vaccine candidate and be responsible for clinical development, registration, and commercialization for the U.S. market.
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Bharat Biotech is developing Covaxin with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and has sought emergency-use authorization from the Indian drug regulator.
Shares of Ocugen surged 10% to 32 cents in trading before the bell.
Ocugena leading biopharmaceutical company, and Bharat Biotech, a global leader in vaccine innovation, today announced that the companies have signed a binding letter of intent (LOI) to co-develop Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, COVAXIN, an advanced stage whole-viron inactivated vaccine candidate, for the United States market.
COVAXIN has been evaluated in approximately 1,000 subjects in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in India, with promising safety and immunogenicity data. The vaccine candidate is currently part of a Phase 3 clinical trial in India involving 26,000 volunteers.
As per the LOI, Ocugen will have US rights to the vaccine candidate and, in collaboration with Bharat Biotech, will be responsible for clinical development, registration, and commercialization for the US market. The companies have begun collaborating and will finalize details of the definitive agreement in the next few weeks. This collaboration leverages Ocugen’s vaccine expertise, and its R&D and regulatory capabilities in the US.
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In preparation for the development of COVAXIN in the US, Ocugen has assembled a Vaccine Scientific Advisory Board featuring leading academic and industry experts to evaluate the clinical and regulatory path to approval in the US market.
Harvey Rubin, M.D. Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of Ocugen’s Vaccine Scientific Advisory Board said, “COVAXIN utilizes a historically proven approach to vaccine design. The adjuvanted inactivated virus vaccine candidate elicited strong IgG responses against spike (S1) protein, receptor-binding domain (RBD) and the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2 along with strong cellular responses in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. COVAXIN™ offers a vaccine candidate that is different from other options currently available in the US market with potentially broader coverage against multiple protein antigens of the virus.”