Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday said that the company hopes to launch the Covid-19 vaccine in partnership with US-based biotech company Novavax called Covovax in India by June 2021. Poonawalla tweeted: “Our partnership for a Covid-19 vaccine with Novavax has published excellent efficacy results. We have applied to start trials in India.”
A day before the announcement, Novavax Inc announced that according to a preliminary analysis conducted in the UK, its vaccine was 89.3% effective in preventing Covid-19 and was nearly as effective in protecting against the new variant first discovered in the UK and South Africa.
In September 2020, SII tied-up with Novavax Inc to manufacture one billion doses of the vaccine in 2021. The supply and license agreement with Novavax allows SII to manufacture and commercialize Novavax’s vaccine. Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine is protein-based.
Covovax will be the second Covid-19 vaccine from SII and the third Covid-19 vaccine for India. SII is the producer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine in India.
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