Zydus begins delivery of its needle-free Covid vax to govt

Zydus Cadila has begun supplying its needle-free anti-Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D to the government, the company said. The vaccine has been supplied from its Zydus Vaccine Technology Excellence Centre at the Zydus Biotech Park in Changodar, Ahmedabad, the company said in a statement.
The government last year placed an order for 10 million vaccine doses for the national anti-Covid immunisation programme. The company is also planning to make the vaccine available in the market. ZyCoV-D is the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine. A three-dose vaccine, it is to be administered intradermally using the painless PharmaJet needle-free system called Tropis on day 0, day 28, and day 56.
The vaccine will be priced ₹265 per dose and the applicator ₹93 per dose excluding GST. The company said it has signed an agreement with Shilpa Medicare Limited, a contract manufacturing organisation, to produce doses of vaccine. It also has a pact with Enzychem Lifesciences of the Republic of Korea for the manufacturing license and technology transfer for the vaccine.
The national drugs regulator granted the vaccine approval for restricted use in emergency situations for people aged 12 and above. The company earlier announced it should have a production capacity of about 10-12 million doses per month.
The Union health ministry has said the Zydus vaccine would initially be used in districts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal having low first dose coverage. The vaccine will be rolled out nationwide later.