Zydus Cadila hopes to begin supply of ZyCoV-D vaccine by mid to end September, says MD Sharvil Patel

Representational Image (Credits: Zydus Cadila)

New Delhi: Zydus Group Managing Director Sharvil Patel on Saturday (August 21, 2021) said that the drug firm is hoping to begin the supply of the ZyCoV-D COVID-19 vaccine by mid to end September. During a virtual press conference, Patel also said that the pricing of the ZyCoV-D dose will be announced in the next one or two weeks.

"Post the emergency use authorisation, now we will work closely with the regulatory authorities to work on the pricing and modality of delivery of the doses of our vaccine. In the next one or two weeks we will have better clarity on the pricing," Patel said.

"The company hopes that by middle to end of September, we can start supplying the vaccines, and as I said we need to scale up to 1 crore doses and we believe by October we can achieve this. We believe by October we will start producing 1 crore doses and that would mean by end of Jan we can have 4 to 5 crore doses," he added.

Zydus Cadila's indigenously developed needle-free three-dose COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) on Friday. It became the first vaccine to be administered to beneficiaries in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.

Asked if the company was considering partnering with other firms to scale up production of ZyCoV-D vaccine, Patel said that Zydus Cadila is actively looking at ramping up manufacturing both domestically through partnerships and also outside of the country.

"The company is also seeking approval for a two-dose regimen of the vaccine," he reiterated.

ZyCoV-D, notably, is the sixth vaccine to get the emergency use authorisation in India, after Serum Institute of India's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the vaccines of Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.

(With agency inputs)