Vaccine-maker Serum Institute of India may soon export almost one crore doses of its Covid-19 jab Covovax, official sources told News18.com. Around 97 lakh doses have been cleared by the country’s apex testing laboratory, the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kasauli, after tests on safety and efficacy. The batches are now awaiting completion of documentation formalities.
US-based vaccine maker Novavax Inc is in a licence agreement with the SII for the development and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. Covovax is not yet approved by the Indian drug regulator and is also undergoing evaluation for emergency use listing at the World Health Organization (WHO).
The batches of the recombinant nanoparticle protein-based Covid-19 vaccine with Matrix-M adjuvant are likely to be exported to the Philippines and Indonesia, two countries where the vaccine has been approved under ’emergency use authorisation’ so far. Both countries had approved the vaccines for emergency use in November.
“Around 97 lakh doses are cleared by the central drugs laboratory in Himachal Pradesh, and have been cleared for export,” an official at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told News18.com. “The doses will be exported to two countries that have given EUA,” they added.
According to the senior government official, at least 50 lakh doses will be exported to Indonesia and the remaining will be sent to the Philippines. These will be commercial exports.
On May 21, the SII had submitted an application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking grant of emergency use authorisation for Covovax. However, it is still awaiting approval from the drug regulator as the panel of experts has asked for more information.
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