3 Indian vaccines in different phases of clinical trials; states ramping up testing: ICMR

Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, ICMR Director-General Dr.Balram Bhargava elaborated on the progress of the development of a vaccine for COVID-19. He mentioned that three out of the 141 vaccine candidates are from India- Bharat Biotech vaccine, Zydus Cadila's DNA vaccine, and Serum Institute of India's recombinant Oxford vaccine. Both the Bharat Biotech vaccine and Zydus Cadila's DNA vaccine have completed their phase 1 trials and have embarked on phase 2 of the study. 

On the other hand, Dr. Bhargava pointed out that the recombinant Oxford vaccine had received approval on Monday. This vaccine's phase 2 and 3 trials shall commence within a week at 17 sites. He stressed that there was no specific drug to treat COVID-19 at present.

Dr.Balram Bhargava remarked, "There is no specific drug or vaccine available yet for COVID-19. However, we have about 141 candidates that are being studied the world over. About 26 are in different phases of clinical trials. And the need for a vaccine is urgent. But there is a dilemma- the pandemic is progressing rapidly and to develop a vaccine, it takes time. At the present moment, we have three Indian vaccines that are in different phases of clinical testing. The first one is the inactivated virus vaccine which is the Bharat Biotech vaccine which has completed its phase 1 study at 11 sites. It has started its phase 2."

"For the DNA vaccine of Zydus Cadila, India has completed phase 1 and has embarked on phase 2 of the study at 11 sites. That is progressing well. The third one which got approval yesterday is the recombinant Oxford vaccine being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. It has got approval for phase 2 and 3 trials which are starting within a week at 17 sites," he added. 

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'More than 2 crore tests conducted' 

On this occasion, the ICMR Director-General noted that India has conducted more than 2 crore tests so far with 6.6 lakh samples being tested for the novel coronavirus on Monday. He explained that the country was following a policy of intelligent and calibrated testing. Lauding the state governments for providing cooperation in COVID-19 testing, Dr. Bhargava revealed that they had been asked to conduct 10 lakh tests per day. 

Dr. Bhargava said, "It has been more than 6 months since we did the diagnosis of the very first case. We have completed more than 2 crore tests since then. We have been able to establish a large number of laboratories and yesterday, we did about 6.6 lakh tests. We have been following a policy of intelligent and calibrated testing."

"We have also set up high throughput laboratories in Special Economic Zones. Our economy also progresses and testing happens, more so where there are larger international airports. Now, states have also been cooperating in testing and we are requesting them to reach 10 lakh tests per day. We are providing them the infrastructure," he noted. 

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