By Aakriti Bhalla
(Reuters) – India’s Bharat Biotech is planning to launch its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the second quarter of 2021 if it gets approval from Indian regulatory authorities, a company executive said on Sunday.
The company, which has received initial approval from Drugs Controller General of India to conduct late-stage trials for its vaccine candidate COVAXIN said it plans to conduct recruitment and dosage for the Phase 3 trials in November.
The trial will be conducted in 25 sites in 10-12 states and will provide two doses each for the vaccine and placebo recipients, the company’s Executive Director Sai Prasad said.
The company, based in the southern city of Hyderabad, is developing the vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research. Bharat Biotech is also in talks with more than 10 countries that have shown an interest in its potential COVID-19 vaccine.
(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; editing by Barbara Lewis)
