India is the third-worst hit nation with coronavirus
With more than 9 lakh positive coronavirus cases and close to 25,000 fatalities, India remains the third-worst hit nation with the contagion ravaging across the globe. In a desperate bid to contain the highly-infectious virus, which is spreading at an alarming rate, medical researchers and scientists are racking their brains to develop a cure. Being one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world, India is aiming to develop two indigenous vaccines to break the chain of the novel coronavirus.
Zydus Cadila to start human trials of its vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D
After the Indian biotechnology company, Bharat Biotech got the regulatory approval from the Drug Controller General of India to conduct clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, another indigenous vaccine is all set to start human trials. Zydus Cadila has been given the nod by DCGI to conduct phase I/II clinical trials of its vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D. The second indigenous potential vaccine was developed at the Vaccine Technology Centre in Ahmedabad after it proved to be successful in its pre-clinical trials.
Development of the vaccine
The company had taken two different approaches to develop the vaccine candidate. The first one being the development of a DNA vaccine by using the viral protein of the virus, which would, in turn, trigger the body’s immune system against the coronavirus. The other approach included producing the vaccine candidate using live attenuated recombinant measles virus.
The results of preclinical trials of Zydus's vaccine candidate
For the unversed, preclinical trials are conducted on animal models to evaluate the results, efficacy and safety of the vaccine candidate. If the results seem to be promising, then the vaccine is given the regulatory approval by the monitoring committee to go-ahead with Phase I of human trials. The vaccine being developed by Zydus Cadila was seen to successfully develop an immune system response in various animals including rabbits, rats, mice and guinea pigs. It was also observed that the vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D was tolerated well in the preclinical trials.
Clinical testings have begun for Covaxin and ZyCoV-D
According to a media report, Phase I/II of clinical trials have been initiated for both vaccines (Covaxin and ZyCoV-D) across the country and around 1000 volunteers will be taking part in these trials. Zydus Cadila group may take around three months to complete the clinical trials, as per a recent statement by the company.
What does the ICMR director has to say
Shedding more light on the same, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava noted, "Two indigenous Indian candidate vaccines have got clearance to start early phase human trials this month. They have got their sites ready and are doing the clinical study on approximately 1,000 human volunteers each at different sites. They are trying to do early clinical testing for these two indigenous vaccine candidates.”
The efforts have been fast-tracked: ICMR Director
As the number of coronavirus infections is increasing with every passing day, the world is putting a united front to fight the contagion wreaking havoc across the globe. India, which remains the third worst-impacted nation by the coronavirus, has also joined the race of developing a COVID-19 vaccine with its two ingenious vaccine candidates.
Speaking on the same, Dr Balram Bhargava said, "From India's perspective, we have two vaccine candidates. We are trying all out efforts to fast-track it and it is the moral duty that there should not be a delay not even by a day for regulatory clearances for these vaccines so that we can break the transmission of the virus as soon as possible. "