Mumbai-based pharma company Cipla will add Moderna to the list of Covid-19 vaccines available in India for restricted emergency use.
Sources said that the company has received permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to import Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country.
With permission, the vaccine by the US-based company could be imported and start getting used in the country’s vaccination program. The company will only have to provide safety assessment data of the first 100 beneficiaries before mass rollout.
Cipla’s statement on the approval was not available till the filing of the story despite contact made with the company and assurances being provided over the same.
As per changes made in the approval process for Covid vaccines for emergency use in the country, the government has now decided to waive bridging trials for foreign vaccines if it is cleared for emergency use in countries like the US and if the safety assessment data of the first 100 beneficiaries is submitted before mass rollout.
The introduction of Moderna’s vaccine is expected to give a boost to the country’s mass vaccination program. Right now only three vaccines – Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield, and Russian Sputnik V are available in the country for vaccination.
Moderna’s vaccine is said to be 90 percent effective against Covid. Like Pfizer, Moderna is an mRNA vaccine that has fragments of the genetic material known as messenger RNA.
