iNCOVACC now available on CoWin

Bharat Biotech today announced that iNCOVACC (BBV154) is scheduled to be introduced in the country as a booster dose shortly. Earlier this month, the company received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for the use of heterologous booster doses of iNCOVACC. The vaccine, now available on CoWin, is priced at Rs 800 for private markets and Rs 325 for supply to the Centre and state governments, a statement from Bharat Biotech has notified.

According to the statement, iNCOVACC is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus-vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion-stabilised SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phases I, II and III clinical trials with successful results. The vaccine has been formulated to allow intranasal delivery through nasal drops. The nasal delivery system has been designed and developed to be cost-effective in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

Dr Krishna Ella, Executive Chairman, Bharat Biotech, said in the statement, “We have achieved the goals we set for ourselves during this pandemic. We have developed COVAXIN and iNCOVACC, two COVID vaccines from two different platforms, with two different delivery systems. The vectored intra-nasal delivery platform gives us the capability for rapid product development, scale-up, easy and painless immunisation during public health emergencies and pandemics. We thank the Ministry of Health, CDSCO, Departmentt of Biotechnology, Government of India, Technology Development Board and Washington University, St Louis, for their support and guidance.”

As a needle-less vaccination, Bharat Biotech’s iNCOVACC will be India’s first such booster dose. India will now have more options when it comes to third doses or precautionary doses, the statement added.

Clinical trials were conducted to evaluate iNCOVACC as a primary dose schedule, and as heterologous booster dose for subjects who have previously received two doses of the two commonly-administered COVID vaccines in India. iNCOVACC is stable at 2-8 °C for easy storage and distribution, it further mentioned.