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Healthcare

Pune's Serum Institute aims to launch Oxford's COVID-19 vaccine by October if trials succeed

Updated : April 24, 2020 08:18 PM IST

Pune-based Serum Institute of India on Friday said it expects vaccine for COVID-19 developed by the University of Oxford in the market by October if safety and efficacy is established.

The institute has partnered with the Oxford vaccine project as one of the seven global institutions behind manufacturing the vaccine.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer, said, "If the vaccine works in the UK trial and we do another trial in India which we are hoping to start shortly, in safety and efficacy, only then will it be available by October or November and that is only if we start producing at our personal cost in risk by the end of this month."

Further, he said the institute will be using one of the existing facilities for manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine, "However, it will take over two years to set up new manufacturing facility for COVID-19 vaccine."

"Typically vaccines take many years but with the regulatory approvals in India that have been very carefully changed for this product development, we are very pleased to announce that we will be able to do it by the end of this year," Poonawalla said.

According to the current target, the institute is looking for 4-5 million doses monthly and will start manufacturing early in hopes that vaccine trial will be successful to save time, he added, "So, we hope to build up 20-40 million doses by September-October in the hope that if the trial works, then we will have this product."

"We are not a listed company and we are not accountable for our actions to investors in terms of pure profits and returns. So, I was able to make this decision and take this risk on at the cost of our other vaccines that we are putting aside temporarily so that we can build up the scale here," he said.

"The manufacturing plant in Pune will have an investment of Rs 500-600 crore that we have already done for one of the vaccines and until we build a brand new facility for COVID-19 which will take two years. So, I have decided to dedicate one of my existing facilities for this in the interest of public health and so that we can rapidly scale up the production in this manner," he added.

Poonawalla said the institute will be partnering with the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) to do clinical trials and is in touch with Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

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