About 30 COVID-19 vaccines are in different stages of development and two of them are in the most advanced stages of development, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said.
“In India, about 30 vaccines are in different stages of development. Two of them are in the most advanced stage of development - COVAXIN developed through ICMR-Bharat Biotech collaboration and COVISHIELD from the Serum Institute of India. Both are in the Phase-III clinical trial stage,” Dr Vardhan, who is also the Science and Technology, Earth Sciences minister, said.
The Union minister was speaking on Monday at the DST-CII India Portugal Technology Summit 2020 which is a flagship event with Portugal as a partner country.
“The Indian Council of Medical Research-is involved in their trial executions. India is also hosting clinical trials for all the major vaccine contenders. Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, is conducting trials for the vaccine developed by Oxford University. ZydusCadila is also conducting Ph2 trial of an indigenous DNA Vaccine. One of our pharma giants, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, will distribute the Russian vaccine in India after conducting final-stage human trials and receiving regulatory approval,” the minister informed.
Dr Vardhan also said that India is among the top 10 countries in the world with respect to the number of patents filed.
Highlighting India’s efforts to fight the challenge of COVID-19, he said, “More than 100 start-ups supported by the Government have provided innovative products and solutions to overcome challenges posed by Covid-19… The Summit is a reflection of the effective partnership between the government and industry for developing a robust technology ecosystem for the country… The next iteration of this collaboration will be to encourage new solutions based on cutting edge technologies such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence”.
Dr Vardhan expressed the hope that the interactions offer a good opportunity for the participating companies to explore prospects for bilateral investments across sectors such as healthcare, water, agriculture, energy and Information Technologies.
“These are times of solidarity. Our ties with India are strong. We need to rely on knowledge to be out of this crisis together,” said Professor Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Government of Portugal, delivering the keynote address as Guest of Honour at the function.
For the past 26 years, the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India has been co-organizing the Technology Summit in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Spain, South Korea, the UK and Italy have also participated in the summits in the past. The objectives of the summit are- Forge partnerships; Boost innovation, investment & trade and Facilitate technology transfers, joint projects and market access.
