Zydus Cadila aims to produce 10 million Covid vaccine doses per month

The pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila on Thursday informed that it has applied for emergency use authorisation (EUA) from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for its DNA vaccine ZyCoV-D against coronavirus disease and stated that they expect to produce one crore vaccine doses per month from August onwards after approval.

ZyCoV-D is a three-dose Covid shot that is the world's first Plasmid DNA vaccine.

"We expect to produce 1 crore vaccine doses per month from August onwards and 5 crore doses by December this year. Our target is to produce 10-12 crore vaccine doses in a year," Managing Director of Cadila Healthcare Dr Sharvil Patel said on its Covid vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D's production.

"The vaccine has shown primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases in the interim analysis. Once the approval comes through - we can launch ZyCoV-D in 45-60 days," Dr Patel said.

Dr Patel has also said that a study has been carried out in more than 50 clinical sites spread across the country and during the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 between the month of April, May and June reaffirmed the vaccine's efficacy against the new mutant strains like delta variant.

The statement issued by Cadila Healthcare mentioned that vaccine can be stored at 280 degrees celsius but has shown good stability at temperatures of 250 degrees Celsius for at least three months.

"The thermostability of the vaccine will help in easy transportation and storage of the vaccine and reduce any cold chain breakdown challenges leading to vaccine wastage," the statement said.

Zydus claims 66.6 per cent efficiency against symptomatic Covid cases and 100 per cent for moderate disease. No severe cases or deaths due to COVID-19 occurred in the vaccine arm after administration of the second dose of the vaccine.

The statement said the vaccine when approved will help not only adults but also adolescents in the 12 to 18 years age group.

"It has also evaluated a two-dose regimen for ZyCoV-D vaccine using a 3 mg dose per visit and the immunogenicity results had been found to be equivalent to the current three-dose regimen," the statement said.

The company will be declaring the price of a vaccine once it gets clearance from regulators.