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COVID-19 'Virus Busters': Serum Insititute of India's Adar Poonawalla among six named ‘Asians of The Year’

Poonawala joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001 and took over the day-to-day operations of the company as CEO in 2011.

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SII CEO Adar Poonawalla
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The chief executive of the Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawala has been named among six “Asians of the Year” for their contribution towards the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by Singapore’s leading daily.

The Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) has collaborated with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, and the University of Oxford for making the COVID-19 vaccine-‘Covidshield'.

SII is conducting trials of the vaccine in India.

The other esteemed individuals included in the list are-Chinese researcher Zhang Yongzhen, who led the team that mapped and published online the first complete genome of Sars-CoV-2, China’s Major-General Chen Wei, Japan’s Dr Ryuichi Morishita, and Singapore’s Professor Ooi Eng Eong, prominent vaccine developers against the virus, and South Korean businessman Seo Jung-jin whose company will enable the making and dispensing of the vaccines and other COVID-19 treatments to the world.

The daily collectively referred to them as “The virus busters”.

“Sars-CoV-2, the virus that has brought death and hardship to the world’s largest and most populous continent, is meeting its tamer in The Virus Busters,” the award citation stated.

“We salute your courage, care, commitment, and creativity. In this peril-filled hour, you are a symbol of hope for Asia, indeed the world.” it added.

It is to be noted that Poonawala joined the Serum Institute of India in 2001, and took over the day-to-day operations of the company as CEO in 2011. He has personally put USD 250 million of his family fortune to ramp up the institute's manufacturing facility.

Serum Institute of India (SII) is ramping up production of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, aiming to have 100 million doses ready by December for a vaccination drive that could begin across India that same month, Bloomberg reported.

If final-stage trial data show that AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate is giving effective protection from the virus, the Serum Institute of India -- which is partnered to produce at least one billion doses -- may get emergency authorisation from New Delhi by December, said Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer, SII, in an interview with Bloomberg.

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the company's pandemic level facility in Pune in November, Poonawalla said that indications suggest that the central government may purchase 300-400 million doses by July 2021.

However, there have also been controversy surrounding the vaccine being produced by Poonawalla's company with a volunteer for the Covidshield vaccine seeking Rs 5 crore compensation for the neurological complications he developed after being administered the test dose.

"Our client developed severe neurological health complications after he was given the test dose. We had sent a legal notice to the Serum Institute; Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR); AstraZeneca, UK; Drugs Controller General of India; Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator, Oxford Vaccine Trial; The Jenner Institute Laboratories, University of Oxford; and the Vice Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Higher Education and Research," N.G.R. Prasad, Advocate, Row & Reddy, told IANS.

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