AHMEDABAD: Pharma major Zydus Cadila hopes to start supplying its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D by mid or end of September. The Ahmedabad-based company is also in talks with a few contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) to scale up the vaccine production.
Zydus Cadila’s indigenously developed plasmid DNA vaccine on Friday received the emergency use authorization (EUA) from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), also making it India’s first vaccine for children in the age group of 12-18 years.
“Our new plant has been commissioned and it has started producing the first batch of the vaccine. By middle or end of September, we hope to start supplying the vaccine,” said Dr Sharvil Patel, managing director, Zydus Cadila Group.
Stating that the company is now actively looking at ways to ramp up manufacturing capabilities through partnerships in India, Patel further added, “We have completed initial due diligence of at least two to three manufacturers in India. We have also received requests for transferring technology to some other countries as well.”
In a media interaction on Saturday, Patel further added, “We are talking to other partners for technology transfer. If we can do that successfully, we will see larger scale up happening through partnerships.”
Zydus will be able forge partnerships when the company gets clarity on cost sharing with CMOs, it will be able to forge partnerships.
At present, the company plans to produce 1 crore doses by October. It aims deliver 3-4crore doses by December and further ramp up the supply to 5 crore doses by January end. When asked about the pricing of the vaccine, Patel said that the company will work closely with the regulatory authority for pricing and modalities of delivery of doses.
“We will have a better clarity on pricing in the next one or two weeks,” said Patel, adding that the discussion with the government about the pricing has not yet begun.
