Mumbai:
Tata Group’s healthcare venture is said to have started initial discussions with Moderna Inc for a partnership to launch its COVID-19 vaccine in India, the Economic Times reported on Monday.
Tata Medical & Diagnostics could team up with the India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to carry out clinical trials of Moderna's vaccine candidate in India, the report, citing officials familiar with the matter.
Moderna did not respond to Reuters request for a comment outside business hours, while Tata Medical & Diagnostics did not immediately respond.
Unlike Pfizer’s vaccine, which must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius or below, Moderna’s can be stored at normal fridge temperatures, making it more suited for poorer countries such as India where cold chains are limited.
Data released in November from Moderna’s late-stage study showed it was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns. The shot was approved for use in the United States in December and in Europe earlier this month.
India mandates that any vaccine maker must conduct an additional local study if it has to be considered for what the country calls the world’s biggest vaccination programme.
It gave emergency-use approval to a vaccine by Bharat Biotech and state-run Indian Council of Medical Research and another licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca that is being produced by the Serum Institute.
Meanwhile,India said it will administer homegrown coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN in seven more states from Monday as it seeks to inoculate 30 million healthcare workers across the country.
The government this month gave emergency-use approval to the vaccine, developed by Bharat Biotech International Ltd and state-run Indian Council of Medical Research, and another licensed from Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC that is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
The expansion from the 12 states now administering COVAXIN includes the southern state of Kerala, which has a high COVID-19 caseload, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, the government said late on Saturday.
Some doctors have expressed doubt about COVAXIN, which was approved without efficacy data from late-stage clinical trials. The government says it is safe. The Lancet medical journal said on Thursday the drug produced an immune response in a small group of adults.
Authorities have inoculated nearly 1.6 million health workers overall using the two vaccines, the government said on Sunday.
India is also exporting doses, including commercial shipments to Brazil and Morocco, and free shipments to the Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
India recently trained immunisation-programme managers from 13 foreign countries using Indian vaccines, the government said.
With 1.35 billion people, India has reported 10.65 million coronavirus infections – the highest after the United States – with 153,339 COVID-19 deaths.
The vaccination drive, targeting frontline workers, is to be expanded later to cover 270 million people older than 50 or deemed at high risk because of pre-existing medical conditions.
India has the world’s second highest COVID-19 caseload after the United States, but daily cases have been declining since hitting a peak in September.
India’s drugs controller has said the overall efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, locally branded COVISHIELD, was 70.42% based on trials done overseas, but the approval for Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN has faced criticism due to the lack of efficacy data.