Centre places order for 30 crore doses of Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine after Rs 1,500 crore deal

In a key development on Thursday, the Health Ministry announced that it had placed orders to procure 30 crore doses of Biological E's Covid-19 vaccine.  

The Union Ministry of Health has finalised arrangements with Hyderabad based vaccine manufacturer Biological-E to reserve 30 crore of Covid-19 vaccine doses. These vaccine doses will be manufactured and stockpiled by M/s Biological-E from August-December 2021.

The health ministry will make an advance payment of Rs. 1500 crore to the company.

Biological-E's covid vaccine is currently undergoing Phase-3 clinical trial after showing promising results in Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. The vaccine being developed by Biological-E is a RBD protein sub-unit vaccine and could be available in the next few months.

  This is expected to boost India's vaccination drive which has slowed down in some states owing to a paucity of doses.

A Union Health Ministry statement read, "Biological-E COVID Vaccine candidate has been supported by Government of India from Preclinical stage to Phase-3 studies. Department of Biotechnology has not only provided financial assistance in terms of grant-in-aid of over Rs.100 cr but has also  partnered with Biological-E to conduct all animal challenge and assay studies through its Research Institute Translational Health Science Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad. This has been undertaken as part of Government of India's ‘Mission COVID Suraksha- the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’ which was launched to reinforce and accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development efforts as part of the third stimulus package, Atmanirbhar 3.0."

The proposal of M/s Biological-E was examined and recommended for approval after due diligence by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC).

The arrangement with M/s Biological-E is part of the wider endeavour of the government to encourage indigenous vaccine manufacturers by providing them support in Research & Development (R&D) and also financial support. 

Biological-E covid vaccine candidate has been supported by government preclinical stage to Phase-3 studies. The Department of Biotechnology has not only provided financial assistance in terms of grant-in-aid of over Rs 100 crore but has also partnered with Biological-E to conduct all animal challenges and studies, the health ministry said.

This has been undertaken as part of Government of India's ‘Mission COVID Suraksha- the Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’ which was launched to reinforce and accelerate Covid-19 vaccine development efforts, the government said.

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