INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
On September 15, the DCGI gave permission to the SII to resume clinical trial of the vaccine
(File photo: Reuters)The phase 3 human clinical trial of the coronavirus vaccine 'Covishield', developed by Oxford University and being
manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), will begin at a state-run hospital in Pune next week.Th trial will take place at Pune's
Sassoon General Hospital, its dean Dr Muralidhar Tambe said on Saturday."The phase-III trial of 'Covishield' vaccine will begin at Sassoon
It is likely to start on Monday
Some volunteers have already come forward for the trial
Around 150 to 200 volunteers will be administered the vaccine candidate dose," he said."From Saturday, the hospital started enrolling
Those who are willing to volunteer for the vaccination should contact the hospital," he said.Under phase 2, trials were conducted at Bharti
Vidyapeeth Medical College and also KEM Hospital in the city.The SII has partnered with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca for
manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine candidate, developed by the University of Oxford.Earlier this month, the SII had paused the clinical
trials of the vaccine candidate in the country.The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had on September 11 directed the SII to suspend
any new recruitment in the phase-II and III clinical trial of the vaccine till further orders after AstraZeneca paused the trials in other
countries because of "an unexplained illness" in a participant in the study.However, on September 15, the DCGI gave permission to the SII to
resume clinical trial of the vaccine.
