Claiming that the Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, developed and manufactured by Bharat Biotech is safest, Dr Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, hailed the decision of Indian drug regulator, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) as historic, as it has approved Covaxin for emergency restricted use in India.
While addressing media virtually recently, Dr. Ella said that Bharat Biotech has already conducted clinical trials on Covaxin at 18 locations across the world and it has been observed as the most safest vaccine having no major complications or side effects. “We are one of the leading vaccine manufacturers in the world among the developing countries. Our vaccine is on par with any of the major leading vaccine manufacturers in the world. We are happy that the DCGI has approved Covaxin for the emergency restricted use in India. This is a giant leap for innovation and novel product development in India,” observed the CMD.
Expressing concern over a few people trying to target the abilities of Indian companies and the Indian scientists, Dr. Ella lashed out against them and said that some elements are trying to lower and degrade the capabilities and abilities of Indian companies and the Indian scientists. He said they are doing this only because they have their own self interest. However, the CMD assured that Bharat Biotech’s products are no way inferior to leading pharma companies like Pfizer and others in the world.
“Bharat Biotech is the only company that has published 5 articles on Covid-19 vaccine process. Many are alleging we are not transparent with regard to data submission. But I would suggest them to first of all read the articles clearly and they will have all the data relating to the in-depth research we had taken up. More than 70 articles have been published in various International journals. Only thing is people should have patients to read these articles, only then they should comment,” said Dr. Ella.
Adding further Dr. Ella sited some examples how the Indian companies are being targeted, and said that Merck’s Ebola vaccine had never completed a human clinical trial but the World Health Organization (WHO) had given permission for emergency authorization for Liberia and Guinea. But for Covaxin, human clinical trials in first and second phases have successfully proved its safety and efficacy and even the third clinical trials are fast going to be concluded very soon. However in the meanwhile he expressed satisfaction over the DCGI decision to approve Covaxin for emergency restricted use and hailed it as a historic decision that would go a long way in encouraging the domestic companies to take up more innovative developments in the coming days.
