WHO approval for AstraZeneca vaccine should come soon: Serum CEO

Serum CEO Poonawalla said his company would start stockpiling millions of doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine candidate from around April

The Serum Institute of India expects WHO emergency-use authorization soon for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which it is producing for mid and low income countries, its chief executive said.

“The emergency use licensure from the WHO (World Health Organization) should be available and coming through in the next week or two, hopefully, because we have submitted everything,” Adar Poonawalla told the Reuters Next conference on Thursday.

Poonawalla also said his company, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, would start stockpiling millions of doses of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine candidate from around April.

“It will be upwards of 40-50 million doses per month is what we are trying to stockpile of the Novavax product,” he said.

The Serum Institute CEO said a special purpose vehicle housing its pandemic-related products should be valued at $12 billion to $13 billion.

“We are in a unique position to be able to make so many different vaccines at a huge volume and capacity,” he said.

“For an investor to come in an at a $12-13 billion valuation, it will be a fantastic deal, leaving a lot of upside.”