After Pfizer, Now Serum Institute Seeks Approval For Emergency Use Of Corona Vaccine Covishield
Pune, December 7, 2020: The exercise, which has been ongoing for the Coronavirus vaccine for months, now seems to be paying off. After Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has now sought permission to use its corona vaccine ‘Covishield’ for emergency use.
The SII became the first indigenous company in India to apply to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to obtain formal approval for the emergency use of Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’.
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted, “As promised, before the end of 2020, @SerumInstIndia has applied for emergency use authorisation for the first made-in-India vaccine, COVISHIELD. This will save countless lives, and I thank the Government of India and Sri @narendramodi ji for their invaluable support.”
The company has requested this approval citing medical needs during the epidemic and the public interest on a large scale. Earlier on Saturday, the Indian unit of US drugmaker Pfizer applied to the Indian drug regulator for formal approval for the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by it. Pfizer made this request after its Covid-19 vaccine was approved in the UK and Bahrain.
According to SII’s application, the company has stated that four data from clinical trials have revealed that Covishield is effective in the case of symptomatic patients and especially in severe cases of Covid-19. Two of the four test data relate to Britain and one each to India and Brazil.
