Covaxin, a whole-virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine used for mass immunization in the country, showed a 65.2 per cent protection against the Delta variant in a double-blind, randomized, multicentre, phase 3 clinical trial.
The company claims that when the Nitric Oxide Nasal is sprayed over nasal mucosa it acts as a physical and chemical barrier against the virus.
Covaxin is being developed by Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology.
'The deaths of the children in the Gambia would batter India's reputation as the developing world's pharmacy.'
The vaccine candidate -- 'Covaxin' -- is being indigenously developed by the Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
The vaccine induced robust binding and neutralising antibody responses which were comparable to those observed in the convalescent serum collected from patients who had recovered from COVID-19, according to the findings which have appeared on medRxiv, a preprint server.
The phase-three human clinical trial of indigenously developed anti-coronavirus vaccine candidate Covaxin began at the AIIMS in New Delhi on Thursday, with Dr M V Padma Srivastava, the chief of Neurosciences Centre at the premier institute, and three other volunteers receiving the first dose.
In a statement Bharat Biotech clarified that the vaccine's efficacy can only be determined 14 days after the second dose.
The phase 3 clinical trial will cover around 28,500 subjects, aged 18 years and above, and it will be conducted in 21 sites across ten states, including Delhi, Mumbai, Patna and Lucknow.
In phase I, the vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers and the maximum of 100 of them would be from AIIMS.
The Pune-based vaccine major has entered into a collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine.
'I knew there was a huge business opportunity, but it was Dr Kalam who made me jump into it as an entrepreneur.'
'There is a Covid vaccine-mania that is happening in the world now and the vaccine makers are using this mania for their own gains'
AIIMS-Delhi is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting Phase I and II randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trials of Covaxin.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
The global heath body had earlier suspended the hydroxychloroquine arm of the clinical trials of experimental COVID-19 drugs over safety concerns.
The first drug to treat low sexual desire in premenopausal women, dubbed "female Viagra", has been approved in the United States, but with a warning about potentially dangerous side effects such as severe low blood pressure and fainting.
Results from the first phase of the clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine suggests it is safe to use, Chinese scientists say.
From food to skin, allergies in India are rapidly on the rise, says Nikita Puri.
