DBT approves funding for three companies for developing COVID-19 vaccine

The Department of Biotechnology has so far short-listed three companies for funding the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, besides 13 other proposals it received for diagnostics, therapeutics and other interventions to fight coronavirus, a statement said.

The DBT said a multifaceted approach is being adopted to ensure that vaccine companies utilising different platforms and at different stages of development are fast tracked through a research consortium under funding from the National Biopharma Mission, an initiative launched in 2017 to support development of vaccines and drugs.

The Department of Biotechnology and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council had invited applications on the COVID-19 Research Consortium. The first phase of the call ended on March 30 and around 500 applications were received from academia and industry, the DBT said in a statement.

The multi-tiered review process is ongoing and till date 16 proposals of devices, diagnostics, vaccine candidates, therapeutics and other interventions have been recommended for receiving funding support, it said.

Both repurposing of existing vaccine companies for immediate protection of high-risk groups and novel vaccine candidate development were considered while selecting proposals under this call.

"Funding support has been recommended to Cadila Healthcare Ltd for advancing thedevelopment of a DNA Vaccine candidate against novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. and toBharat Biotech International Ltd for COVID-19 vaccine candidate utilising the inactivated rabies vector platform.

"For the Phase III human clinical trials study of recombinant BCG vaccine planned inhigh-risk population, Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) will be supported," the statement said.

It added that development of a novel vaccine evaluation platform at National Institute of Immunology, an institute under the Department of Biotechnology, to support SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development has also been approved for financial support.

The DBT has been designated the central coordination agency for the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

DBT Secretary Renu Swarup told PTI that other proposals were also being examined.

To boost indigenous production and to scale-up the production of molecular and rapid diagnostic tests Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd, Huwel Lifesciences, Ubio Biotechnology Systems Pvt Ltd, Dhiti Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, MagGenome Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bigtec Pvt Ltd and Yaathum Biotech Pvt Ltd will also receive funding, the statement added.

A common shared facility to manufacture diagnostic kits and ventilators will be established at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) under National Biopharma Mission of DBT to provide scaled-up production capacity to different manufacturers, it added.

Development and deployment of contactless, affordable thermopile-based ultrasonic sensors for screening of COVID-19 suspects and indigenous production of novel PPE for healthcare professionals will also be supported under the initiative.