India’s government said on Thursday (Jun 3) it has inked a deal with domestic vaccine maker Biological-E for 300 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for 15 billion rupees (US$205.62 million), the first such order for unapproved shots.
The vaccine, which is currently undergoing phase-3 clinical trials, is likely to be available in the next few months, the health ministry said in a statement.
The government would be making an advance payment of Rs. 1500 crore to M/s Biological-E for the manufacturing of the vaccines.
The vaccine, a RBD protein sub-unit vaccine, will be manufactured and stockpiled by Biological-E from August-December 2021.
Biological-E, which also has a separate deal to produce about 600 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 shot annually, said on Tuesday it entered into a licensing agreement with Providence Therapeutics Holdings to manufacture the Canadian company’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in India.
Biological-E will run a clinical trial of the vaccine in India and seek emergency use approval.