COVID-19 vaccine development at early stage in India; breakthrough unlikely within a year: Experts

As Indian firms scramble to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, experts feel that research in the country is still at a nascent stage and any concrete breakthrough is not likely within a year.

The Indian government and private firms have stepped up efforts to develop a vaccine to halt the spread of COVID-19 which has claimed over 3,700 lives with more than 1,25,000 cases in the country.

PM CARES Fund Trust has decided to allocate Rs 100 crore for support to coronavirus vaccine development efforts.

Referring to a vaccine to fight the virus, a PMO statement had said that it is the most pressing need and Indian academia, start-ups and industry have come together in cutting-edge vaccine design and development.

The Department of Biotechnology has been made a central coordination agency to identify pathways for vaccine development.

Naming the Indian firms working on vaccines for COVID-19, Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, had said last month that while Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each.

The WHO has listed Serum Institute of India, Zydus Cadila, Indian Immunologicals Limited and Bharat Biotech from India among the firms involved in developing a vaccine.

Leading virologist Shahid Jameel said India's vaccine manufacturing capacity is quite remarkable and at least three Indian companies - Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Biologicals E are at the forefont, working with international partners to manufacture a vaccine for COVID-19.

"Research on a COVID vaccine in India is at a very early stage of development and any candidates are likely to reach animal trials only by the end of the year," he told PTI.

However, Indian vaccine companies have a lot of capacity and expertise, and are likely to play a significant role in bringing new COVID-19 vaccines to the market.

This experience is important for institutions, industry and regulators to work together, and prepare for the future, said Jameel, a Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize winner for Science and Technology and the current Chief Executive Officer of Wellcome Trust/Department of Biotechnology's India Alliance.

CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) Director Rakesh Mishra said, "From what we know, we are not at an advanced stage of vaccine development at the moment."