New Delhi, July 1, (dpa/GNA) – Indian drugs maker Zydus Cadila said Thursday it had applied for emergency use authorization for its three-dose Covid-19 vaccine, which had shown good efficacy against the Delta variant.
Interim data submitted to the Drugs Controller General of India had demonstrated an efficacy of 66.6 per cent for the ZyCoV-D vaccine candidate which was based on a plasmid DNA platform, the Ahmedabad-headquartered company said.
The vaccine had been found to be fairly effective against new mutant strains of Covid-19, especially the Delta variant. Trials at 50 centres across India were carried out during the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in April-May.
Trials were also carried out on 1,000 children in the age group of 12 to 18 and the vaccine was found to be safe for them.
The vaccine has a needle-free delivery through an intradermal applicator and Zydus Cadila plans to manufacture 100 to 120 million doses annually.
ZyCoV-D is stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius but can withstand temperatures up to 25 degrees centigrade for at least three months making for easy transportation and storage and reduction of wastage.
Vaccines that have received emergency approval from India’s drugs regulator are Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India under the name Covishield, Russia’s Sputnik V and the US-made Moderna.
GNA