Zydus Cadila starts supply of its needle-free 3-dose vax to govt

Mumbai: Pharma major Zydus Cadila announced on Wednesday that it has started supplying its Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D to the central government, handing the nation’s immunisation drive against the coronavirus a welcome but delayed shot in the arm.
ZyCoV-D is a three-dose Plasmid DNA vaccine injected intradermally or in the skin with the painless PharmaJet needle-free system called Tropis.After the first dose, it has to be taken on Day 28 and Day 56, the company said.
It was a delayed rollout because the vaccine was authorised last August for emergency use in adolescents (12-18 age group) and adults, and its launch was expected by December. The company received in November an order from the Centre for 1 crore or 10 million doses at Rs 358 for each dose. The price break-up is: Rs 265 a dose plus Rs 93 for the needle-free applicator, excluding GST.
“We faced teething troubles in the equipment and at the newly-commissioned plant, Zydus Vaccine Technology Excellence Centre (VTEC) in Ahmedabad. Hence the delivery was delayed,” a company official said.
ZyCoV-D adds to the three vaccines in use in India—Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V. Currently, only Covaxin is given to children. Two more shots (Covovax and Corbevax) are in the pipeline, having received the Drug Controller General of India’s clearance last year for emergency use.
Zydus VTEC manufactures the drug substance for the needle-free DNA Plasmid vaccine, which “produces the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response” in the human body, thereby playing a vital role in “protection from disease as well as viral clearance”.