(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Covid vaccine makers in India are now vying for positioning
their vaccines as the heterologous booster shot that may be
administered after two doses of any vaccine, Trend reports citing
Business Standard .
Bharat Biotech's intranasal vaccine — expected to get a nod from
the drug regulator this month — has been tested as both a
preliminary dose and a mix-and-match booster after Covaxin.
Similarly, Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) is planning to submit data
related to using the Sputnik Light (single-dose version of the
Russian vaccine Sputnik V) as a heterologous booster.
A universal booster or a heterologous booster means that the
third shot of a vaccine given to an individual is different from
the primary two doses.
In April, Serum Institute of India's Chief Executive Officer
Adar Poonawalla had indicated that it plans to conduct a trial to
test the Covovax as a booster shot in a mix-and-match trial.
India formally allowed the mixing of vaccines or a heterologous
boosting policy this week, with Biological E's Corbevax becoming
the first vaccine to be approved as a heterologous booster in
adults who have taken two shots of Covishield or Covaxin.
Experts have endorsed the adoption of a mix-and-match boosting
strategy for vaccines.
Shahid Jameel, senior research fellow at Green Templeton College
at Oxford University, has said India must use science to update its
booster policy.
The researcher had said last month that the recent data from
Christian Medical College, Vellore study on mixing Covishield and
Covaxin showed that Covishield after Covaxin was a far superior
combination.
The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation allowed
using Corbevax as a heterologous booster, paving the way for other
vaccines to vie for the spot.
As for Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, its intranasal vaccine is
based on the adenovirus vector platform and is distinct from
Covaxin. The vaccine helps to trigger the generation of
immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies which line the nasal mucosa.
Bharat Biotech claims the vaccine helps to reduce the
transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus as it attacks the virus at its
first point of entry – the nose and the upper respiratory
tract.
It had conducted a three-leg Phase 2 clinical trial for its
intranasal vaccine. The vaccine was tested in three combinations -
two intranasal shots, first a Covaxin shot followed by the nasal
vaccine, or Covaxin shot following a nasal shot.
The company has sought approval for its vaccine both as a
primary shot and also as a booster dose.
It has plans to have an annual capacity of 1 billion doses of
the intranasal vaccine and is also open to having global partners
for its manufacturing and distribution.
DRL, meanwhile, is readying to submit data on the Sputnik Light
as a universal booster to the Drugs Controller General of
India.
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