The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Panacea Biotec have initiated the first-ever phase three clinical trial for developing a dengue vaccine in India, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.
Domestic pharma major Panacea Biotec in collaboration with Russian sovereign wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has begun the production of 'Sputnik V' COVID-19 vaccine in India, according to a joint statement issued.
Dengue has become a major public health concern in India with 289,235 cases reported last year. This year there were 19,447 cases of dengue which resulted in 19 deaths till April 2024.
The bench, which was critical of the Centre's stand on the issue, said "You (government) are so short of vaccines and you are not taking it through. May be it is an opportunity for you. Don't be so negative. It is like a raging fire and nobody is bothered. You people don't understand the larger picture or what.
Officers sitting over untapped potential to make COVID-19 vaccines need to be charged with 'manslaughter' as it is leading to so many deaths, the Delhi high court said on Wednesday, observing that a lot of scope and infrastructure is available in India which is not being used.
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on the coronavirus vaccines in India.
These include former drugs controller M Venkateshwarlu, Ranbaxy CMD Malvinder Mohan Singh, Ranjit Shahani, India chief of Swiss pharma major Novartis AG, Ramaprasad Reddy, chairman Aurobindo Pharma and Rajesh Jain, joint managing director, Panacea Biotec.
Panacea Biotec Ltd said on Wednesday it has received pre-qualification accreditation from the World Health Organisation for the supply of recombinant Hepatitis B vaccine to UN agencies.
Companies like Shanta Biotech, Panacea Biotec and Serum Institute of India are among the leading vaccine makers which have not been able to file any fresh application to the WHO due to this temporary de-recognition of the country's drug regulatory system. The WHO pre-qualification is essential for companies to supply vaccines to national immunisation programmes funded by the WHO or UNICEF outside the country.
India's export revenue from biotechnology grew by 47 per cent to reach to 1.2 billion dollars in the financial year ended March 2007, a survey said.
Panacea Biotec is planning to launch its organ transplantation drugs to Latin American and South East Asian markets.
The government may look at areas around Thonnakkal, in Thiruvananthapuram district, for the facility. If successful, this would be one of the few sites of Sputnik V owned by Russian firms outside that country. Shine Jacob and Sohini Das report.
'Its efficacy is 97.6 per cent.'
As per RDIF, Sputnik V has a number of key advantages, including that there are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.
The Centre has also contacted five domestic and three multinational vaccine makers to understand how soon a candidate vaccine against Covid-19 will be ready.
The Sensex ended down 251 points at 27,351 and the Nifty shed 65 points to close at 8,228.
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