The Serum Institute of India (SII) expects to soon receive World Health Organisation (WHO) emergency use authorisation for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, produced for mid and low-income countries.
Reuters quoted SII chief executive Adar Poonawalla as saying at the Reuters Next conference: “The emergency use licensure from the WHO should be available and coming through in the next week or two, hopefully, because we have submitted everything.”
Poonawalla added that SII was aiming to initiate deliveries of the WHO-backed COVAX initiative by this month-end.
A single dose of the vaccine will cost $3 for low-income countries and sold to others at a ‘slightly higher’ rate.
The vaccine maker already sold 11 million doses to the Indian government, which is planning to initiate the world’s largest mass vaccination campaign on 16 January.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the rollout of the drive at a total of 3,006 session sites virtually.
In the first phase, the country intends to vaccinate around 300 million people.
Earlier this month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Covid-19 vaccines of Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech for restricted use in emergency situations.
Meanwhile, Brazil is sending an aircraft to India to carry the first two million Covid-19 vaccine doses supplied by SII. The Brazilian government’s Fiocruz biomedical institute secured the doses.
In a separate development, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Fast Track designation to Innovation Pharmaceuticals’ Brilacidin for the treatment of patients with Covid-19.
A Host Defense Protein (HDP) mimetic, Brilacidin has antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.
by Pharmaceutical-Technology.com
Source: pharmaceutical-technology.com
CureVac and the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center have announced a co-development and licensing agreement to develop novel messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based cancer vaccines. The strategic collaboration will focus on the development of differentiated cancer vaccine candidates in selected haematological and solid tumour indications with high unmet medical needs.
FUJIFILM Corporation is planning to invest $1.2 billion to expand the planned FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. This news follows the organisation’s announcement of a $2 billion investment in the facility in March 2021. This additional financial boost totals the investment to over $3.2 billion, FUJIFILM confirmed.
Sanofi’s global restructuring and downsizing is now fully underway, with layoffs stretching to the company’s Belgian offices. Belgian newspaper De Tijd reports that 67 employees have been laid off at a site in Ghent and 32 jobs are on the chopping block at Sanofi’s Belgium HQ in Diegem.
