The Indian Government has recently announced a financial boost to support its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. A stimulus package of Rs. 900 crore has been allocated for the “Mission COVID Suraksha”, an initiative aimed at facilitating the development and distribution of indigenous, affordable, and accessible vaccines. This action is in line with India’s ongoing mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat.
Mission COVID Suraksha: An Overview
Mission COVID Suraksha is an all-encompassing effort from India to expedite the vaccine development process, right from preclinical development to clinical trials, manufacturing, and regulatory facilitation for deployment. It aims to consolidate all funded resources to accelerate product development.
The third economic stimulus saw the Centre announcing this comprehensive package, spotlighting India’s unwavering commitment towards healthcare during these challenging times.
Underlying Financial Support
The package earmarks Rs. 900 crore for Phase I of Mission COVID Suraksha. This funding, intended for a period of 12 months, will be provided to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) to aid in the research and development of home-grown COVID-19 vaccines.
Responsibility and Implementation
The hullabaloo around the mission will be led by the DBT and will be implemented by a dedicated Mission Implementation Unit situated at the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Complementing strengths would be provided by the activities already underway under the National Bio Pharma Mission (NBM) and Ind-CEPI Mission.
The DBT is also administering the implementation of the Ind-CEPI Mission titled “Epidemic preparedness through rapid vaccine development: Support of Indian vaccine development aligned with the global initiative of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI)” approved in March 2019.
Objectives of Mission COVID Suraksha
The mission has outlined several objectives to expedite the vaccine development process. These include accelerating pre-clinical and clinical development, licensure of vaccine candidates, establishing clinical trial sites, enhancing central laboratories and other suitable facilities, developing common protocols, data management systems, regulatory submissions, quality management systems, process development capabilities, and targeting product profiles.
Indian Vaccine Candidates
A total of 10 made-in-India vaccine candidates have been backed by the DBT so far, out of which five have initiated human trials. These include the vaccines from Serum Institute of India (Covishield), Bharat Biotech (Covaxin), Zydus Cadila (ZyCoV-D), Pfizer (BNT162b2), and the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are crucial to ascertain the safety and efficacy of a drug before its widespread use among humans. By collating data on the clinical and pharmacological profile, these trials provide insight into the potential side effects of a new drug. Before proceeding to human clinical trials, animal trials are conducted to monitor any side effects and establish an estimated drug dosage.
The clinical trials of drugs developed in India go through four phases – Phase I or “first in man” study, Phase II or exploratory trials, Phase III or confirmatory trials, and Phase IV or post-marketing phase.