Serum Institute seeks approval to conduct local trial for Novavax Covid vaccine
Live MintThe world's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, has sought the Drugs Controller General of India's permission to conduct a small domestic trial of the Novavax coronavirus vaccine that was found to be 89.3% effective in a UK trial, its Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla told news agency Reuters on Friday. Earlier today, Novavax said that its Covid-19 vaccine was 89.3% effective in preventing the killer virus in a trial conducted in the United Kingdom, and was nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant first discovered in Britain, as per a preliminary analysis. Novavax is reportedly stockpiling Covid-19 vaccines at six operating manufacturing sites and said it expects a total of eight plants in seven countries to produce at the rate of 2 billion doses per year, including from the SII, a major player in the fight against coronavirus. Last year in September, Novavax had announced its deal with the world's largest vaccine manufacturing firm SII in order to produce 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines.