Novavax joined the Serum Institute for Bulk production of CoVid vaccine

Novavax joined the Serum Institute for Bulk production of CoVid vaccine supporting LMIC's costing $3 per vaccine. The U.S. Pharmaceutical company Novavax has signed an agreement with Serum Institute, a leading pharmaceutical company in India, for the supply of CoVid-19 vaccine.

Under the agreement, Serum Institute will acquire the exclusive rights to supply the Novavax CoronaVirus vaccine in India. At the same time, during the epidemic, the drug could be supplied to other low and middle-income countries too.

Novavax, funded by the Melinda and Gates Foundation, has developed high levels of antibodies against the CoronaVirus in the initial clinical trial of its vaccine, which in the short term, will complete the final stages of human trials within September.

Therefore, Novavax estimates that it will be possible to produce between 1 billion and 2 billion doses of the vaccine NVX-CoV2373 by 2021 in association with the world's largest dose producer Serum Institute by volume.

Despite all, the Indian Pharmaceutical Institute Serum located in Pune has set the price of the proposed vaccine dose as $3 i.e. rs. 225 for India plus other Low and Middle-Income countries.

In the meantime, the proposed price is applicable only for 92 countries, which are under a CoVax alliance led by Gavi, CEPI and WHO formed to ensure equity in accessing the doses.

According to the CEO Adar Poonawalla of Serum Institute,100 million doses will be made available to the public in the first half of 2021 as per the agreement in India and LMIC's.

Besides all, the exact timeline will be scheduled only after the phase 3 trial results and approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and WHO pre-qualification. However, the expectation will not cross in early 2021.

It is noteworthy that the Indian company Serum has already received approval for Oxford University trials and is involved in producing large quantities of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, it is welcoming that such deals of Serum with several big pharmas will undoubtedly help the nation to stay away from the deadly contagion easily.