India’s First COVID-19 Vaccine ‘COVAXIN’ Receives DCGI Nod for Human Trials

New Delhi: In a boost to the country’s fight against Coronavirus, India’s fist COVID-19 vaccine candidate ‘COVAXIN’ has received the approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for phase I and II of human clinical trials.

The drug, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, will go for human clinical trials across India in July 2020. Results are likely to be released by October 2020, following which larger clinical trials will be conducted.

COVAXIN, an inactivated vaccine, has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).

The approval for human clinical trials was given by DCGI after the company submitted results generated from preclinical studies, demonstrating safety and immune response.

As per one of the experts of DCGI, Dr. Debashis Hota, Pharmacology dept of AIIMS, If everything goes well in December mass vaccination will be started in India.