People in India are currently talking about the three vaccines - Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik - in the fight against the COVID-19 virus. However, there are many other vaccines in the pipeline and one among those is Corbevax. The Centre had said on Thursday (June 3) that it will make an advance payment of Rs 1,500 crore to Hyderabad-based Biological E to reserve 30 crore doses of Corbevax.
As many as 30 crore doses of Corbevax are expected to be rolled out between August and December and of these, at least 7.5 crore doses will be available by September.
This is the first time the government has placed an order for a vaccine that has not received emergency use authorisation.
What is Corbevax?
Corbevax is a "recombinant protein sub-unit" vaccine, which means it's made up of a specific part of SARS-CoV-2 — the spike protein. Spike protein allows viruses to enter the cells in the body. However, when spike protein alone is given, the body is expected to develop an immune response which fights the virus when it attempts to infect a person.
Developed jointly with Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, the vaccine candidate has been nurtured by the Centre since the early stages of its development through more than Rs 100 crore in funding from the Department of Biotechnology.
Biological E has developed a vaccine candidate called Corbevax which is currently undergoing Phase 3 clinical trials.
Corbevax pricing
According to a report in the Times of India, Corbevax could well emerge as the most affordable of vaccines in the Indian market once it gets emergency use approval. Corbevax is slated to be rolled out at less than Rs 500 for both the doses, and may even be priced below Rs 400 for two doses. Biological E managing director Mahima Datla had hinted at this in an exclusive interview to the daily. She also added that the pricing is yet to be finalized.
