IIL to start making Covaxin drug substance from mid-June, supply to Bharat Bio by July – Times of India

HYDERABAD: Indian Immunological Limited plans to start production of the drug substance of indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin from June 15 and send the first batch to Bharat Biotech by July.
IIL will start with 2-3 million doses per month and will be ramping this up to 6-7 million doses per month by the end of the year and eventually scale it up to 10-15 million doses per month, IIL managing director Dr Anand Kumar said on Friday.
Bharat Biotech has tied up with IIL, which is a facility set up National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), for manufacturing the drug substance of Covaxin as part of efforts to rapidly ramp up production of the desi vaccine.
Dr Kumar also said they are converting their Karakapatla manufacturing unit in Genome Valley, located close to the Bharat Biotech facility, into a Bio Safety Level-3 (BSL3) facility for manufacturing the Covaxin drug substance, even as they are taking up construction of another block. The Karakapatla facility was a BSL 2+ facility where IIL was making rabies vaccines, which has since been shifted to other facilities of the company.
IIL was sanctioned a grant of Rs 60 crore under the Mission COVID Suraksha that was launched by the department of biotechnology (DBT) for enhancing Covid-19 vaccine production capabilities in the country.
Apart from manufacturing the drug substance for Covaxin, IIL is also working on its own live attenuated Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Griffith University of Australia. The vaccine is currently undergoing animal trials and is expected to be ready for use in 2022.
IIL is also working on another Covid-19 vaccine and the animal trials are underway currently and is expected to come out by next year for human vaccination.