Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) is hoping to develop a COVID-19 vaccine by the year-end,?the company's CEO Adar Poonawalla stated.?
According to reports, CEO Adar Poonawalla was speaking during the launch of 'Compact XL, a compact diagnostics machine by MyLab Discovery Solutions that will automate lab processes from sample handling to preparing RT-PCR tubes.
Serum Institute is in a partnership with British-Swedish drug maker AstraZenaca to manufacture and supply the vaccine being developed by University of Oxford.?
Under the pact, Serum Institute will supply 1 billion doses of the vaccine in India and other low and middle-income countries, with a commitment to provide 400 million before the end of 2020.
Also Read: India's Second COVID-19 Vaccine Gets Approval For Human Trials
"End of the year, we are hoping to have a vaccine. So we will discuss once of the phase three trials for the product come about. Recently, there was news about another vaccine candidate which was being rushed. We do not want to rush anything. We want to emphasis on safety and efficacy... and once we are confident of good and safe vaccine, we will announce but that is still six months away from now," said Adar?during the launch of 'Compact XL'.?
Poonawalla said that till the vaccine comes out testing is the key and that is why SII has invested in MyLabs. SII has invested over Rs 100 crore in MyLabs, a Pune-based molecular diagnostics firm?"If you test, isolate and segregate, we can manage the situation till the good cure or vaccine comes around," said Adar.S.?
Poonawalla lamented that India is not testing enough and added that Indian test manufacturers including MyLabs are picking up the production capacity."There is a fear that what will happen if the number of positive patients increases. I would like to say that there is no harm if the number increases as it will help us detect people," he added.?
He also sought permission to allow export of the test kits."We have enough capacity in manufacturing testing kits. MyLab can produce 2 million kits per week and there is no that much demand in India so allow us to export and we have enough buffer stock for India readily available if there is more outbreak," he said adding they are waiting for the government's blessings.?
Also Read:?World Leaders Including Nobel Laureates Want COVID-19 Vaccines To Be Free Worldwide
The vaccine being developed by University of Oxford is currently in the most advanced stage of clinical trial with ongoing studies of phase 2 and phase 3 with about 10,000 participants. That vaccine is widely expected to be the first for launch.??
Disclaimer: The information mentioned in the article is based on facts available in public domain. Indiatimes does not endorse any medication or vaccine for COVID-19. Any course of treatment should only be followed after consulting a medical expert.