A vaccine normally takes 10-15 years to develop and costs $ 200 - 300 million but the effort now is to do this in 1 year which would raise the cost substantially, Principal Scientific Adviser Professor K Vijay Raghavan said.
There are about 30 groups in India, including big industry, startups and academics, who are working on COVID-19 vaccine development and about 20 of them are keeping a good pace, Government's top scientific advisor said on Thursday.
Addressing a media briefing on the coronavirus situation in the country, Professor K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, said the logistics of making COVID-19 vaccine accessible to everyone is a big challenge which is being discussed by the government now.
Raghavan said a vaccine normally takes 10-15 years to develop and costs $ 200 - 300 million but the effort now is to do this in 1 year which would raise the cost substantially.
"...we need to do parallel processing. Instead of working on 1 COVID-19 vaccine, the world is working on ~ 100 vaccines at the same time. Simultaneously, we have to speed up regulatory processes without compromising on safety, expand manufacturing capacity and build distribution systems, so, instead of $200-300 million, it will cost $2-3 billion," he said.
Raghavan noted that India's vaccine manufacturing is world-class.
"India is also one of the world's biggest generics manufacturers. Our vaccine companies are now also into vaccine development and R&D, not just manufacturing," he said.
"Because vaccine development is a very risky process, many firms will stockpile vaccines even before they are ready, in the hope that this will be effective. In this scenario, global consortia help mitigate risk and ensure equity of access," Raghavan added.
"Three types of COVID-19 vaccine development efforts are being undertaken 1) Fully indigenous 2) Collaboration with foreign players, where we are leading 3) Collaboration, where others are leading the development," he said.
"The COVID-19 disease spreads because the immune response takes some time, by which time the virus overwhelms us. With vaccine, we can be ready for immune response when the virus attacks us. Vaccine is given to normal population, not sick people; hence it is necessary that it is properly tested and its quality and safety are ensured, he further said.
VK Paul, Chairman, Empowered Group – I and Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said that Indian industry is working on at least 8 candidate vaccines, out of which 4 are relatively ahead.
"Our national science laboratories are working on 6 candidate vaccines, out of which we are very hopeful about 2 – 3," he announced.
On the issue of COVID-19 diagnostic kits, Paul said about 20 companies have provided testing kits to the nation,.
"When our needs are met, we will provide to world as well. By July 2020, we will be able to indigenously produce 5 lakh testing kits per day," he added.
"Our regulatory system for development of drugs, vaccines and diagnostics is working in mission mode in giving fast clearances without compromising on methodology and safety," he further said.
Replying to a question on the viral strains which are present in India, the Principal Scientific Advisor said that a change in the genetic sequence need not necessarily bring about a change in the prime activities of the virus, though it helps trace the geographical origin of the virus.
“To conclude that change in genetic sequence is responsible for spread of infection, we need more evidence. The spread of infection can be due to many other parameters as well. So far, since January 2020, we have not observed any change in the genetic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 in India or the world, which could have led to a fundamental change in the properties which determine how the virus infects us," Raghavan said.
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