3L intranasal Covid vax doses reach hospitals
Bharat Biotech and University of Wisconsin-Madison GHI partner to set up India One health centre in B’luru
University of Wisconsin-Madison Global Health Institute (GHI) and the Ella Foundation, founded by city-based Bharat Biotech's Dr Krishna Ella and Suchitra Ella on Sunday entered a bi-lateral agreement in New Delhi to establish "UW-Madison One Health Centre" in Bangalore. The centre expected to be operational by end of 2023, will advance the development and production of new vaccines for India.
Furthermore, the partnership will enable collaboration across disciplines and geographic boundaries providing Indian students and researchers access to UW expertise and training, and build research capacity in India. Speaking on the sideline, the company's executive chairman Krishna Ella said Bharat Biotech dispatched three lakh doses of its intranasal Covid-19 vaccine to some hospitals two days ago.
iNCovacc, the world's first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, was launched on January 26. The vaccine is now available on CoWin and priced at Rs 800 for private markets and Rs 325 for the Government of India and State governments.
"We dispatched three lakh doses of the world's first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine to some hospitals two days ago," Ella said.
On whether Bharat Biotech is looking at exporting the vaccine, he said some countries and international agencies are approaching the company for the intra-nasal vaccine. iNCovacc is also the world's first intranasal Covid-19 vaccine to receive approval for the primary two-dose schedule, and as a heterologous booster dose for adults.
Dr Krishna Ella also called for merging of State drugs regulators with central body to ensure 'one quality one standard.' All State drug regulatory bodies should be merged with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to ensure "one quality one standard" for Indian drugs, Dr Ella suggested.
His comments came in the backdrop of questions being raised about the quality of Indian drugs over the past few months. The latest instance was on Friday, when the Tamil Nadu-based Global Pharma Healthcare recalled its entire lot of eye drop linked allegedly to vision loss in the US. Before that, India-made cough syrups were allegedly linked to children deaths in the Gambia and Uzbekistan last year.
