Chennai: Testing of Covaxin to cure Covid-19 patients will commence in Tamilnadu from today.
The vaccine will be administered to 10 healthy volunteers at a private hospital in Kattankulathur. These volunteers will be kept under observation for 14 days.
The Drug Controller General of India recently gave its nod for human clinical trials for the vaccine called Covaxin.
According to ICMR, the vaccine is derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and Bharat Biotech International Limited, Hyderabad, are jointly working for the preclinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine.
Besides Bharat Biotech, at least five other Indian companies are working on a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus while similar efforts are underway in different countries.