KOLKATA: Eight medical institutes in and around the city are gearing up for phase-III trial of the Covid-19 candidate vaccine,
ZyCoV-D, after getting the nod from
Drug Controller General
of India (DCGI). Two of the eight institutes are government-run medical colleges while the others are private hospitals. This is the third candidate vaccine that will come to the city for phase III clinical trials.
"This is going to be a huge multi-centric study in West Bengal involving 10,000 volunteers. A team from the pharma company has already visited the sites and discussed the study designs with principal investigators," said Snehendu Koner, business development head at CliniMed LifeSciences, which is looking after the site management on behalf of Zydus Cadila, the manufacturer of ZyCoV-D.
Like
COVAXIN, ZyCoV-D is an indigenous vaccine manufactured by the Ahmedabad-based company. Phase I and II trials have shown satisfactory results.
"This vaccine can be stored at a
temperature
of 2°C-8°C and can remain potent even at room temperature (30°C) for at least three months," added Koner. "Instead of the vaccines that require extreme temperature regulation, a facility that we lack, we should be focusing more on these indigenous vaccines that can be stored at existing cold chain units,," said a senior health official.
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