Indigenous Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin shows 'encouraging' results in trials

The phase-I human clinical trial of India's first indigenously-developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Covaxin, has shown "encouraging" results, according to the principal investigator of the vaccine trial team.

"First part of phase-1 of vaccine trial (Covaxin) has been completed. 50 people across India were administered the vaccine and the results were encouraging. Six people were administered vaccine on Saturday under the second part of phase-1," Dr Savita Verma, principal investigator of the vaccine trial team, told news agency ANI.

Read: How you can volunteer for Covid-19 vaccine trials

Telangana-based Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, along with ZyCoV-D, are the only two vaccine candidates to have got a nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct human trials. They have been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology.

On July 17, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij had announced that the human trial of Covaxin began at Rohtak's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences.

Read: 'Covid-19 curve flattening in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad'

Later, the phase-I trial began at the AIIMS on July 24, with the first dose of the injection given to a man, who is in his 30s. Over 3,500 volunteers have already registered themselves for the trial at AIIMS, of whom the screening of at least 22 people is underway, informed AIIMS professor Dr Sanjay Rai.

AIIMS-Delhi is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting phase I and II randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of Covaxin. The phase-I human trials have so far begun in AIIMS Patna and few other sites too.

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In phase I, the vaccine would be tested on healthy 375 volunteers with no co-morbid conditions aged between 18-55 years and a maximum of 100 of them would be from AIIMS. The second phase would include around 750 volunteers from all 12 sites together and about 750 people between the age group 12-65 years will be selected.

"In the first phase, we see the safety of the vaccine which is of primary importance and the dose range is also calculated," AIIMS Director and leading pulmonologist, Randeep Guleria had said.

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(With agency inputs)