Serum India Aims COVID-19 Vaccine For ?1000 By September, If Trials In May Succeed

Serum India Institute from Pune -- the world's largest producer of vaccine by number of doses -- is known for creating innovative and affordable therapies for pneumonia, dengue monoclonal vaccines, among others.

Serum India has announced that they will be manufacturing the vaccine to take down COVID-19, based on the human trials currently being tested by Oxford University in the UK, and will begin their own trials from May onwards.

Reuters

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Serum Insitute¡¯s CEO has said in a statement to TOI, ¡°We hope to start trials in India from May, with a few hundred patients, and expect to roll out the vaccine by September¨COctober, if the trials are successful.¡±

He has also stated that the company will be retaining its DNA of keeping the vaccines affordable stating, ¡°We are planning to make the vaccine available at an affordable price of around Rs 1,000 in India, which will take into account costs (for us),¡±

According to him, the pricing will be considerably lower than the one being sold globally, as is the case with other vaccines in its line-up, like the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine that is 10 times more affordable than what¡¯s available globally.

Reuters

CEO has also confirmed that they¡¯re not going to way for the trials to get over in September and then commence production, instead, they¡¯ll start beforehand stating, ¡°We are not waiting for the trials to get over in September in the UK, and then start production here. The decision ¡ª at our own risk and cost ¡ª has been solely taken to get a jump-start on manufacturing, to have enough doses available, if the clinical trials prove successful.¡±

He added, ¡°We aim to manufacture four to five million doses per month for the first six months, following which, we might scale up to 10 million doses per month, based on the success of trials. We are looking to build it up to 20-40 million doses by September-October. If successful, we will make the product available in as many countries as possible including India.¡±

This announcement of Serum India Institute is surely good news among all the rising number of COVID-19 cases in India, and as the country prepares to ease lockdown measures in the near future.