Hyderabad: Biological E Limited’s Covid vaccine gets WUL from WHO

Hyderabad: Vaccine maker Biological E. Ltd. (BE) on Tuesday announced receiving emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its Corbevax, COVID-19 vaccine based on protein sub-unit platform. Mahima Datla, Managing Director, Biological E Limited, said the EUL will help in developing COVID-19 vaccines as and when they start having an impact on public health. “We understand that many countries are under fiscal pressure when it comes to responding to COVID-19. Our goal is to take Corbevax to the people of those countries. Corbevax vaccine has already received green signal from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted use in emergency situations among adults, adolescents and young children from December’21 to April’22. It also received regulatory approval for use as a concurrent COVID-19 booster shot for adults over 18 years of age. So far, Biological E Limited has supplied 100 million doses of Corbevax to the central government as part of the Covid vaccination drive for children aged 12 to 14 years. ”While many companies that entered the field of vaccine development and manufacturing during the COVID pandemic later exited due to lack of funding or lack of success, we are committed to developing and delivering better and affordable vaccines globally. We are being active in providing access,” said Mahima Datla. BE is working on a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine based on the XBB1.5 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which will be in line with WHO TAG-CO-VAC recommendations. The candidate vaccine has completed all necessary pre-clinical animal studies, which suggest it will provide adequate protection against the currently circulating variants. BE has recently received the final approval from CDSCO to start clinical trials of XBB.1.5 variant vaccine in India and the clinical trials will start soon.