ICMR and SII have further collaborated for clinical development of COVOVAX (Novavax) developed by Novavax, USA and upscaled by SII.
The partnership is a stellar example of private-public institutes collaborating to mitigate the dire consequences of the pandemic outbreak.ICMR has funded the clinical trial site fees while SII has funded other expenses for COVISHIELD.
It has completed the enrolment of all 1600 participants on 31 Oct 2020. COVISHIELD has been developed at the SII Pune laboratory with a master seed from Oxford University/Astra Zeneca.
The vaccine made in UK is currently being tested in large efficacy trials in UK, Brazil, South Africa and USA. The promising results of the trials so far give confidence that COVISHIELD could be a.