Cadila Health rises after COVID-19 vaccine gets DCGI nod for human trial

Cadila Healthcare rose 1.28% to Rs 367.89 after the company said its vaccine for COVID-19 has successfully completed pre-clinical development and received permission to initiate human clinical trials.

The drug maker announced before trading hours today (3 July) that its plasmid DNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19 (ZyCoV-D) developed indigenously at its Vaccine Technology Centre in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) has successfully completed the preclinical phase. It has now received permission from the Drug Controller General of India - Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to initiate Phase I/II human clinical trials in India.

In animal studies, the vaccine was found to elicit a strong immune response in multiple animal species like mice, rats, guinea pigs and rabbits. The company has already manufactured clinical GMP batches of the vaccine candidate and plans to initiate the clinical trials in July 2020 across multiple sites in India in over 1000 subjects.

With ZyCoV-D, the company has successfully established the DNA vaccine platform in the country using non-replicating and non-integrating plasmid carrying the gene of interest making it very safe. The firm intends to now rapidly ramp up the production capacities of ZyCoV-D at multiple sites and facilities to cater to Indian and global demand.

Cadila Healthcare's consolidated net profit fell 14.8% to Rs 391.90 crore on 0.21% rise in net sales at Rs 3,627.20 crore in Q4 FY20 over Q4 FY19.

Zydus Cadila is an innovative, global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of healthcare therapies.

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