Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest COVID-19 vaccine-maker, is hopeful that it will be able to launch Covovax by September 2021, CEO Adar Poonawalla announced on Saturday, 27 March.
Covovax is a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax, headquartered in the US.
"Covovax trials finally begin in India; the vaccine is made through a partnership with Novavax and Serum Institute of India," Poonawalla wrote on Twitter, adding that it has been tested against the African and UK variants of coronavirus and has an overall efficacy of 89 percent.
"Hope to launch by September 2021!" he further wrote.
In August 2020, the two companies announced an agreement under which Novavax had given SII the licence to manufacture and supply the vaccine in low- and middle-income countries, reported IANS.
Earlier, in January, Poonawalla had said that SII’s partnership for a COVID-19 vaccine with Novavax had shown excellent efficacy results and the company had applied for starting trials in India.
“Hope to launch Covovax by June 2021," Poonawalla had said in a tweet.
(With inputs from IANS.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)