The makers of Covaxin, Bharat Biotech ended the Covaxin deal with the Brazilian pharmaceutical company Precisa Medicamentos on Friday to commercialise the vaccine in Brazil over a controversy.
According to reports, Bharat Biotech did not state the reason to do so while announcing their decision on Friday. The company added that it would continue to work with Brazilian healthcare regulator Anvisa. This would be done to obtain all required approvals for the use of Covaxin in Brazil.
Previously, the Health Ministry of Brazil had suspended the contract to buy Covaxin after a controversy. This controversy was reported due to the suspected irregularities in the deal.
Adding to the controversy, the government of Indian told Lok Sabha that they have the knowledge of the controversy around the irregularities in the Covaxin deal and regulatory approvals for the supply of Covaxin to Brazil. Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Health Minister of State, said that this relates exclusively to an agreement between a commercial entity Bharat Biotech and another country.
Covaxin has demonstrated an overall efficacy of 77.8% cases against symptomatic COVID-19 cases. Suchitra Ella, the co-founder of Bharat Biotech wrote in a tweet, "We are proud to put India on the global map with scientific conviction,competence & commitment. #Covaxin scores #10 world class publications endorsing Innovation, clinical research,data,safety, efficacy. Thanq collaborators & Positive BB teamwork enduring a pandemic. (sic)"
Dr DK Arora, the chairperson of the COVID-19 working group said that the trial results would help in getting the World Health organisation approval in emergency use.
Other vaccines like AstraZeneca (Covisheild) demonstrated overall efficacy of 70.4% as the results of the Phase 3 trials were
/shethepeople/media/agency_attachments/iUYfaBbcMozaYLoGnoov.png)
Follow Us/shethepeople/media/post_banners/bxuCKepN2L0992Ylgy3F.jpg)