Serum Institute of India’s trial for ‘Covishield’ vaccine developed by the University of Oxford started on August 25. The first patients were screened by Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University (BVDU) Medical College and Hospital in Pune. Indian Council of Medical Research director general Balram Bhargava on August 25 confirmed that the trials for the ‘Covishield’ vaccine, jointly developed by the University of Oxford and Astrazeneca plc, have begun. ICMR is the secondary sponsor to the phase 2 and 3 trial of around 1,600 patients. So far, seven hospitals, including BVDU, of the 17 sites have received ethics committee approval, according to the government’s clinical trial registry. Other hospitals that received ethics committee approval, which include Jehangir Clinical Development Center and KEM Hospital in Pune, King George Hospital at Visakhapatnam, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences at Patna, are expected to start screening of patients later this week. Pune-based Serum Institute is the third firm to conduct human trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in India after Bharat Biotech (for Covaxin) and Zydus Cadila (for ZyCoV-D) started phase I and II trails in July. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide at-risk funding of $150 million to support Serum Institute of India’s manufacturing of two promising vaccines by University of Oxford and Novavax.
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