Hyderabad: After an array of unfortunate events, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) gave a statement filled with a ray of hope.
The ICMR is planning to release India’s first covid-19 vaccine by August 15th. This will be launched after all clinical trials are successfully completed in the nation.
The healthcare body chose 13 institutions in India for carrying out clinical trials. They have further asked them to commence listing of subjects by July 7th.
Citing a letter to the chiefs of the selected institutions, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava notified the heads of its partnership with Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to hasten the clinical trials for the indigenous covid-19 vaccine which has been named as BBV152 COVID vaccine.
The ICMR headed vaccine is going to be the first from India for the dreaded covid-19 infection. For this reason, it has been leveled up as the topmost important project of the current time and getting monitored at a high scale by the government. “The vaccine is being derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and BBIL are jointly working for the preclinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine,” he wrote.
“It is envisaged to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by 15th August 2020 after completion of all clinical trials. BBIL is working expeditiously to meet the target, however, the final outcome will depend on the cooperation of all clinical trial sites involved in this project,” the July 2nd dated letter reads.
The ICMR director general sternly told the selected institutions to fast pace their trials and complete it at the earliest. He further informed them to take approvals for the same and make sure that July 7th, 2020 marks the last date for the subject enrollment initiation.
“Kindly note that non-compliance will be viewed very seriously. Therefore, you are advised to treat this project on the highest priority and meet the given timelines without any lapse,” he added.
The list of institutions involved in vaccine trials includes Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad, King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam, University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and AIIMS Patna.
However, given the number of steps being taken for fast-tracking the development of a vaccine for covid-19, researchers say that the world isn’t near to making one despite encouraging advancements till now.
This comes as most of the vaccine developers haven’t started their most crucial phase 3 of the clinical trial.
Drugmaker Moderna’s Phase-III trial which was supposed to start from July 7 “will likely start at the end of the month or the beginning of August,” reports CNN.
Researchers at the University of Oxford, however, said this week they have vaccinated 8,000 people in the UK as part of a Phase-III trial.
Another Covid-19 vaccine candidate called BNT162b1, being developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech, has delivered some early positive data.
As the world charges to develop a weapon against the dreaded virus, positivity and hope is what’s most desired right now. However, it still needs more time, patience, and more importantly, precautions to tackle the already grim situation.
