Bharat Biotech Chairman Krishna Ella has hit back at doubters saying the company is receiving unfounded backlash as it has done “200 percent honest clinical trials” for Covaxin, its candidate vaccine against COVID-19.
Speaking to reporters on January 4, Ella seemingly also took a back-swipe at Serum Institute of India (SII) chief Adar Poonawalla’s jibe calling vaccines other than those by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer as “like water.”
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"We do 200 percent honest clinical trials and yet we receive backlash. If I am wrong, tell me. Some companies have branded me like water," he said. “Bharat Biotech was the first to identify the Zika virus and the first to file global patents for the Zika and Chikungunya vaccines,” Ella said while emphasising their coronavirus vaccine was “not inferior to the one developed by Pfizer.”
Bharat Biotech has faced a barrage of questions and concerns after the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) announced the grant of emergency use authorisation for its Covaxin and AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s vaccine candidate Covishield. SII is producing AstraZeneca's vaccine in India as Covishield.
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Ella deflected criticism from industry experts and opposition leaders, asserting that the company has “a track record of producing safe and efficacious vaccines and has been transparent with all data.” He also said that Phase III data for Covaxin trials will be available in March.
He further said that sufficient data has already been revealed and is available online for people to access and suggested that Covaxin is being targeted and called “inferior” with questions raised about “sidestepping processes” and “premature clearances” because it is “a product of an Indian company.”
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