Once a difficult market to crack, in recent years, China has relatively opened up its drug market, enacting reforms and speeding up approval time.
Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila, Bharat Biotech's intra-nasal candidate are among the candidates who got approval from the expert panel to conduct clinical trials, Sohini Das reports.
In India, Opposition parties along with healthcare professionals have urged the government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top leaders, to take either of the Covishield or Covaxin doses, which could help in drastically reducing trust and fear issues amongst citizens., reports Sohini Das.
Railway employees including station masters, engine drivers, ticket checkers, etc too have been selected for vaccination and their list is being compiled for the exercise.
Pfizer sought to participate in the Subject Expert Committee consultations towards an emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine. However, the company representatives have been unable to participate in the meetings because of extremely short notices of a few hours or less and time-zone limitations.
Serum Institute already has two deals of 100 million each to supply the Oxford-AstraZeneca and the Novavax vaccine to Gavi-Covax at $3 per dose.
'Safety is my first priority.' 'I need to ensure that any drug or vaccine that our citizens get is first safe.'
The Covishield maker's forte throughout the past half a century has been a combination of affordable vaccines and high volumes. Its tetanus, diphtheria and measles vaccines are known throughout the world, reports Sohini Das.
Currently, TCS is India's second most valuable firm after Reliance Industries, which has a market cap of nearly Rs 12.9 trillion.
While the number of operational airports in the country will rise to 131, other smaller towns too are seeing a surge in connectivity.
'We are hoping by March, the government allows us to export and give it to the private market.'
'The government should put the whole road map together for the vaccine and decide how industry can support...' 'They should allow the private sector to vaccinate.'
The expert committee sought more information from Serum Institute regarding the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The primary objective was to get the adult vaccine as children rarely have a severe form of the disease. Once schools reopen, the demand for vaccines for children under 12 may soar.
Each of the larger states may need less than Rs 10,000 crore each to finance the exercise.
Dispute arose as Indian carriers objected to Emirates flying passengers beyond Dubai, and Dubai authorities complained that Indian airlines have been flying more flights than allocated to its carriers.
Miffed hotels, restaurants stare at huge losses on account of advance planning for events that they now have to shelve.
At $37 per dose, the Pfizer vaccine is much more expensive compared to $3 per dose for the Covishield.
The vaccine would be first made available to the vulnerable population and eventually, it would be available in the private market for all.
Bharat Biotech is in the middle of conducting a phase 3 trial with 22,000 subjects.
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