Bharat Biotech Seeks DCGI Approval for Trials for Nasal Vaccine

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Bharat Biotech sent a proposal to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Friday, 8 January seeking their approval to begin the Phase 1 trials of its intranasal COVID-19 vaccine.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was already given emergency approval on 3 January 2021.

The Hyderabad-based firm, along with Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, has developed a novel chimp-adenovirus, single-dose intranasal vaccine for COVID-19.

Speaking to BusinessToday.in, Chairman of Bharat Biotech Krishna Ella said that the nasal vaccine will be "single dose, easy to administer and super efficient", and thus might be the best choice for the country.

In a press release, Bharat Biotech had claimed earlier that “an intranasal vaccine will not only be simple to administer but reduce the use of medical consumables such as needles, syringes, etc., significantly impacting the overall cost of a vaccination drive.”

This intranasal vaccine candidate has shown “unprecedented levels of protection in mice studies”, the data published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell and the journal Nature notes.

Ella had also said, BusinessToday.in quoted, “You put one drop 0.1 ml in one nostril and 0.1 ml in the other one. You are done. Just one dose.”