Coronavirus vaccine development in India: Here's a list of all vaccines being locally made and developed

With COVID-19 showing no signs of slowing down, India is the second-worst affected country struck by the pandemic, with over 1.12 million cases registered till now.

While a lot of companies and independent medical groups are involved in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, the past month has seen a lot of developments and announcements take place regarding the production of a homegrown vaccine. Globally, India is renowned to be a leading vaccine producer and has manufactured several vaccines in the past, which experts believe gives India an edge over its competitors.

30 different Indian companies are trying to produce a vaccine to fight the infection, out of which WHO has given approvals to seven vaccine candidates, which are in different stages of testing and clinical studies now.

We take your through the status:

COVAXIN, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL), in collaboration with ICMR and NIV, Pune was the first vaccine to get regulatory approvals for clinical trials. The vaccine makes use of an inactive version of a virus to spike up production of antibodies in the host body and just recently initiated phase I and II of testing. Over 385 people have been recruited so far and top hospitals across the country have been selected for conducting the trials.

While ICMR declared August 15 as the ambitious launch date of the vaccine, there is a lot more research needed in the testing phase.

Ahmedabad-based pharma giant, Zydus Cadila announced the start of phase I of its testing process of its novel vaccine candidate earmarked ZyCOV-D last week. Extensive research for the same was done in coordination with medical laboratories in the USA and Europe for the same.

The company is testing two versions of its vaccine, one which makes use of molecular DNA to elicit an immune response, while the other uses a live measles viral strain to provide protection. Development of the vaccine was accelerated after authorities saw a positive response in pre-clinical research and animal studies.

While human clinical trials are currently going on, Zydus CEO Pankaj Patel said that the company is hopeful of completing phase I/II study in the next few months and is trying to make it ready for use by March next year. However, he also said that they could ramp up production if emergency needs arise.

Another prime vaccine maker based out of India, Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) is overseeing the development of a vaccine in partnership with Griffith University, Australia. The vaccine model, though still in its nascent stage makes use of an innovative codon-deoptimization technology which directly targets the cells infected by SARS-COV-2. Pre-clinical trials and studies are still going on for the same.

Bengaluru-based medical pharmaceutical startup, Mynvax made news months back when it announced work on a COVID vaccine which uses a very different approach involving a protein-based vaccine. The same has been done in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru). While scientists are still conducting pre-clinical trials, the company has applied for a Rs 15 crore grant for further research from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

British-Swedish pharma major AstraZeneca is currently involved in the development of the much talked about adenovirus vector vaccine with the University of Oxford. The vaccine prototype is currently in phase III of testing. The company has tied up with Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) to mass-produce the vaccine once the company gets required approvals and licensing from medical boards. AstraZeneca is also hopeful of starting human trials of its vaccine in India, starting August.

The vaccine, which has so far been found to be safe and effective is expected to be made available for the masses by the end of 2020.

Delhi-based biotechnology company, Panacea Biotec Limited has signed a partnership with a US-based pharma company, Refana Inc to develop, manufacture and distribute an experimental COVID-19 vaccine which is currently in works. An agreement has also been signed up with a firm in Ireland regarding the same. The vaccine prototype, which will make use of an inactivated virus strain has shown effective results in the pre-clinical trials conducted in the US. Toxicology studies and animal trials will be conducted in labs across Delhi and Punjab, following which, the company aims to proceed to human trials in the month of October.

The most recent entrant in the vaccine race, Hyderabad-based Biological E is working on developing a novel COVID-19 preventing vaccine which is still in its pre-clinical level. Further updates regarding the same are still awaited.