Covovax trials begin in India, Poonawalla hopes to launch vaccine by September 2021

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday said clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine Covovax have begun in India and the company hopes to launch it by September this year.

In August 2020, American vaccine company Novavax, Inc had announced a licence agreement with SII for the development and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in low and middle-income countries and India.

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"Covovax trials finally begin in India; the vaccine is made through a partnership with @Novavax and @SerumInstIndia. It has been tested against African and UK variants of #Covid19 and has an overall efficacy of 89%. Hope to launch by September 2021!," Poonawalla said in a tweet.