Key data on nasal vaccine may be out in 2.5 months, says Bharat Biotech's Krishna Ella

An intranasal vaccine will not only be simple to administer but reduce the use of medical consumables

Bharat Biotech expects to receive significant data on its intranasal vaccine for Covid-19 in the next two and a half months, founder Krishna Ella has said.

However, Dr Ella did not give a specific timeline for the vaccine whose clinical trials are under way. "It is also easy to scale it up... can produce 100 million doses a month," he was quoted as saying during a FICCI Capital Markets Conference.

He also called on citizens to display Covid-appropriate behaviour, adding that if no other epidemic comes up until Diwali, "we are through as a country".

An intranasal vaccine will not only be simple to administer but also reduce the use of medical consumables such as needles, syringes, etc, significantly impacting the overall cost of a vaccination drive, he had said.

BBV154's (intranasal Covid-19 vaccine) pre-clinical testing has been completed for toxicology, immunogenicity and challenge studies. These studies have been conducted in the USA and India.

"The company is also seeking permission to conduct trials of a combination of Covaxin and the nasal vaccine. We have applied for clinical trial permission," he said during the event.