In a positive development, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has already manufactured 40 million doses of the potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, anticipating the vaccine to sail through the third phase of clinical trials successfully, reports Times of India.
The massive advance manufacturing by SII comes as the vaccine-maker looks to ensure the availability of adequate quantities of the vaccine, called Covishield, as and when it is approved.
SII has been manufacturing the vaccine doses under a "at-risk" manufacturing and stockpiling licence from the Indian drug regulator. It plans to stockpile as many as 200-300 million doses by January 2021, with about half of the capacity expected to cater to the local Indian demand.
The vaccine candidate is presently undergoing large scale efficacy trials across India, the United Kingdom (UK), Brazil, South Africa and the United States (US).
Meanwhile, the Serum Institute and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday (12 November) announced that they have completed the enrolment of 1,600 participants for the third stage clinical trial of the Vaccine.
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