Govt's Expert Panel Recommends Emergency Use Approval For Zydus' ZyCoV-D, Second Indigenous COVID Vaccine: Report

The subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has reportedly recommended granting of emergency use approval to Zydus Cadila's three-dose COVID-19 vaccine, making it the second indigenous jab after Covaxin to get regulatory nod.

Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila had announced last month that it applied for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to the office of Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for ZyCoV-D - its Plasmid DNA Vaccine against COVID-19.

The SEC had met on Thursday (19 August) to review Zydus' application for EUA.

"The SEC has sent recommendations to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)," the CNBC-TV18 reported.

Zydus had claimed that its Covid-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D, has a primary efficacy of 66.6 per cent for symptomatic RT-PCR positive cases in the interim analysis.

ZyCoV-D is a plasmid DNA vaccine which when injected produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system, which play a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.