Covaxin can deal with new Covid strains too: Bharat Biotech

Gallery

MORE...

Sports

Hockey India names Amir Ali-led 20-man team for Junior Asia Cup

Hockey India on Monday announced the 20-member squad for the Men's Junior Asia Cup, a qual

Harmanpreet Singh named FIH Player of the Year, PR Sreejesh gets best goalkeeper award

World Boxing medallist Gaurav Bidhuri to flag off 'Delhi Against Drugs' movement on Nov 17

U23 World Wrestling Championship: Chirag Chikkara wins gold as India end campaign with nine medals

FIFA president Infantino confirms at least 9 African teams for the 2026 World Cup

Hockey, cricket, wrestling, badminton, squash axed from 2026 CWG in Glasgow

MORE...

Covaxin can deal with new Covid strains too: Bharat Biotech

Last Updated : 30 Dec 2020 02:16:41 AM IST

Covaxin c

Bharat Biotech said on Tuesday that its vaccine candidate, Covaxin, will be effective in dealing with new strains of coronavirus.

Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said the protein components of inactive Covaxin will take care of mutations.

His comments came amid growing concerns over new strains of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, especially the variant that was detected recently in the UK.

Krishna Ella, who was delivering the ninth Dr Manohar V.N. Shirodkar Memorial Lecture organised by the Telangana Academy of Sciences, observed that that any virus is expected to have a lot of mutation.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is developing Covaxin in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It has completed phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. The phase 3 efficacy trials of Covaxin were in progress with 20,000 volunteers, Ella said.

The leading vaccine maker is also developing a single-dose nasal vaccine for Covid-19.

In his lecture on "Innovation in Public Health - Our Journey," Ella said there were 40,000 unknown viruses and 10,000 zoonotic viruses and there was a need to focus on neglected and unknown diseases that could become global pandemics in future.

"All neglected diseases start from developing countries. Americans and Europeans are scared of us because these neglected diseases can turn into pandemics," he said.