Zydus starts supplying coronavirus vaccine ZyCoV-D from Ahmedabad facility

A couple of months after receiving the order, Zydus on Wednesday started supplying its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D to the government.

Being manufactured at its newly commissioned state-of-the-art, Zydus Vaccine Technology Excellence Centre at the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, ZyCoV-D is one of the first plasmid DNA vaccines administered intradermally using a painless needle-free system in three doses.

The group had received an order from the government to supply 10 million doses of ZyCoV-D in November 2021.

The vaccine will be priced at Rs 265 per dose while the PharmaJet needle free system Tropis applicator will be offered at Rs 93 per dose, excluding GST. The vaccine will be administered on day 0, day 28 and day 56, the group stated on Wednesday.

Drug substance for the needle-free DNA Plasmid vaccine, ZyCoV-D is being manufactured by Zydus VTEC with the manufacturing process and in process material transfers within the plant being automated.

Moreover, Zydus has also entered into a definitive agreement with Shilpa Medicare Limited, a contract manufacturer to produce mutually agreeable doses of ZyCoV-D. The company also entered into an agreement with Enzychem Lifesciences of Republic of Korea for the manufacturing license and technology transfer for the plasmid DNA Vaccine.

Also, being a DNA plasmid vaccine, ZyCoV-D doesn’t have any problem associated with vector-based immunity. The DNA plasmid platform allows generation of the new construct quickly to deal with mutations in the virus.

Earlier, Managing Director Sharvil Patel had stated that the needle-free application of the vaccination would motivate many more to get vaccinated and guard themselves against Covid-19, especially children and young adults in the age group of 12 to 18 years.

The vaccine has shown stability at temperatures of around 25 degrees for at least three months. The thermostability of the vaccine will help in easy transportation and storage without any problems of fluctuations in temperature. For prolonged use, a temperature of 2-8 degrees is sufficient.

So far, the company has invested around Rs 400-500 crore for developing the DNA plasmid vaccine, including setting up of manufacturing plants. The making capacity is touted to be over 10 million doses per month even as the vaccine can be made at BSL-1 labs.