The Race For A

COVID-19 Vaccine

India

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Bharat Biotech
Inactivated
Approved for restricted emergency use
Two doses (0, 28 days)
Available
Rs 150 per dose for Central govt (excluding taxes), State govt - Rs 400 per dose, Private hospitals - Rs 1200 per dose
Self funded

Serum Institute of India (AstraZeneca-Oxford Univ)
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved for restricted emergency use
Two doses (0, 28 days)
Available
Rs 150 per dose for govt (excluding taxes), State govt - Rs 300 per dose, Private hospitals - Rs 600 per dose
Self-funding, Gavi, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

DRL (Sputnik V)
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved for restricted emergency use
Two doses (0, 21 days)
Available through a few private hospitals in large metro cities
Rs 995 per dose including 5% GST for both govt and private
Self funded

Zydus Cadila
DNA plasmid vaccine
Phase - 3
Three doses (0,28,56 days)
First half 2021
Not decided
Self-funded

SpyBiotech/Serum Institute of India
Virus Like Particles (VLP)
Phase - 1/2 (UK)
Two doses (0, 28 days)
Not known
Not known
Self-funded

Biological E/Baylor College of Medicine (US)/Dynavax
Protein subunit
Phase - 1/2
Two doses
Not known
Not known
Self-funded

Gennova Biopharmaceuticals/HDT Biotech Corporation
mRNA
Phase - 1/2
Two doses
Not known
Not known
Seed funding from DBT-BIRAC

Bharat Biotech
Non-Replicating Viral Vector (Intranasal vaccine)
Phase - 1
Two doses
Not known
Not known
Self-funded

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Moderna Therapeutics
mRNA
Approved for emergency use in US, EU, Canada, Israel, WHO, other countries
(0, 28 days)
Available for use
$32- $37
US govt (Operation Warp Speed), CEPI

Pfizer/BioNTech
mRNA
Approved for emergency use in US, EU, UK & 21 other countries
(0, 28 days)
Available for use
Around $19.5 per dose
Own funding.

Janssen Pharmaceutical (Johnson & Johnson)
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved for emergency use in US, Bahrain
Single dose
First half of 2021 (Biological E)
$10 per dose
US govt (Operation Warp Speed), own funding

Novavax
Protein Subunit/adjuvant
Phase 3
(0, 21 days)
First half of 2021 (through SII in India)
$16 per dose
US govt (Operation Warp Speed), CEPI, Gates Foundation

Inovio Pharmaceuticals
DNA Plasmid vaccine
Phase 2/3
(0, 28 days)
Not known
Not known
US govt, CEPI

Arcturus/Duke-NUS
RNA
Phase 1/2
Single dose
Not known
Not known
Self funded

Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation/NIAID/Dynavax
Protein Subunit
Phase-1
Two doses (0, 28 days)
Not known
Not known
Self funded

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

University of Oxford/AstraZeneca
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved for emergency use in 40 countries includingUK, EU and India
Two doses
Available from January 1, 2021
Sold at no profit
CEPI, Self-funded

Imperial College London
RNA
Phase-1/2
Two doses
Not known
Not known
UK govt

Kentucky Bioprocessing (British American Tobacco)
Protein Subunit
Phase-1/2
Two doses (0, 21 days)
Not known
Not known
Self funded

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Sanofi Pasteur/GSK
Protein Subunit/adjuvant
Phase - 2
Two doses (0, 21 days)
First half of 2021, Sanofi has large manufacturing base in India
Not known
US govt (Operation Warp Speed), European Union

Curevac
RNA
Phase-2
Two doses (0, 28 days)
Not known
Not known
CEPI, own funds

Russia

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Gamaleya Research Institute/Russian Defence Ministry
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved in Russia, Belarus, Argentina
Two doses (0, 21 days)
Approved in Russia, (In India through DRL)
Less than $10 per dose
RDIF

China

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Sinovac
Inactivated
Approved for limited use in China,Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia
Two doses (0,14 days)
Available in China, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia
$14 per dose
Self funded,Chinese govt loans, Chinese PE firms

Sinopharm/Wuhan Institute of Biological Products
Inactivated
Approved for limited use in China, approved in UAE
Two doses (0,14 & 0,21 days)
China,UAE
less than $77 per dose
Chinese govt

Sinopharm/Beijing Institute of Biological Products
Inactivated
Approved for limited use in China, approved in UAE, Bahrain
Two doses (0,14 & 0,21 days)
China, UAE, Bahrain, Hungary, Serbia
Not known
Chinese govt

CanSino Biological Inc./Beijing Institute of Biotechnology
Non-Replicating Viral Vector
Approved for limited use in China
Single dose
China
Not known
Chinese govt

Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical
Protein Subunit/adjuvant
Phase-2
Two-three doses (0,28 or 0,28,56 days)
Not known
Not known
Chinese govt

Institute of Medical Biology/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Inactivated
Phase-2
Two doses (0,28 days)
Not known
Not known
Chinese govt

Clover Biopharmaceuticals/GSK
Protein Subunit
Phase-2/3
Two doses (0, 21 days)
Not known
Not known
CEPI, Self-funded

People\\\\'s Liberation Army (PLA)/Walvax Biotech
RNA
Phase - 1
Two doses (0, 14 or 0, 28 days)
Not known
Not known
Chinese govt

Japan

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Osaka University/Takara Bio/AnGes
DNA plasmid vaccine/Adjuvant
Phase 1/2
two doses (0,14 days)
Not known
Not known
Self funded

South Korea

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Australia

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Vaxine Pty/Medytox
Protein Subunit/adjuvant
Phase-1
Single dose
Not known
Not known
Self funded

Canada

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Medicago/GSK
Plant-based Virus like particle (VLP)/adjuvant
Phase 2/3
Two doses (0, 21 days)
Not known (end of 2021 in Canada)
Not known
Self funded

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

Novavax
Vaccine type
Development stage
Doses
India availability
Price
Funding

COVID-19 Vaccine Entrepreneurs

Adar Poonawalla

CEO

Serum Institute of India Ltd

Krishna Ella

Chairman

Bharat Biotech

Pankaj Patel

Chairman

Zydus Cadila

Pascal Soriot

CEO

AstraZeneca

Stephnen Bancel

CEO

Moderna Therapeutics

Adar Poonawalla, 39, is the second generation entrepreneur and CEO of Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufactuer by volumes. Poonawalla joined the Pune-based Serum in 2001, after graduating from the University of Westminster, London. Poonawalla focused on getting new products licensed and pre-qualified by the WHO . . .

supply to UN agencies and expanding . . . manufacturing footprint both organically and through acquisitions. Poonawalla’s father Cyrus Poonawalla, 79 the Founder-Chairman of SII, is the 12th richest man in India with networth of $11.8 billion, according to Forbes.

Krishna Ella, 72, a yeast molecular biologist-turned entrepreneur, founded Bharat Biotech in 1994. The Hyderabad-based company grabbed headlines when it launched Revac-B, a recombinant Hepatitis-B vaccine, in October 1998. Priced at $1, it was the cheapest Hepatitis-B vaccine in the world at that time. The company later launched an oral polio vaccine (OPV). Despite limited resources, Ella was able pump Rs 1,000 crore into research through loans, grants and sale of shares . . .

The outcome was Rotavirus Vaccine (RV) against childhood diarrhoea, Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV), Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine, Influenza vaccine and a five-in-one Pentavalent vaccine.

Pankaj Patel, 67, a second-generation entrepreneur and known as a pharma industry statesman, is a contrarian. While most pharma companies play safe sticking to their core strengths, Patel has led the diversification of Zydus Cadila . . .

The Ahmedabad-based Zydus is present across the pharma value chain, starting from bulk drugs to formulations, vaccines to biosimilars, and speciality drugs to consumer health. In fact, Zydus has the biggest arsenal of COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.

Stephnen Bancel, 48, joined Moderna in the summer of 2011 when it was a one employee company. The Frenchman assembled a world-class team and raised nearly $2 billion between equity financing and licensing collaborations. Bancel earned a Masters in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Harvard in 2000. He had no experience of running a biotech enterprise, when he was roped in to run a company based on cutting edge science . . .

Under Bancel’s watch, Moderna has operated in near secrecy, making little noise about the therapies and vaccines it is building to treat cancers to infectious diseases. Moderna's potential mRNA COVID-19 vaccine swung the fortunes of the company, catapulting its market cap of $6 billion in January to $27.8 billion on August 7. Bancel with just 9 percent shares became a billionaire. Interestingly, Moderna is yet to launch a product in the market..

Pascal Soriot, 61, a street fighter in his childhood, is now leading the British-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca into research-led renaissance as CEO. The Parisian has stolen the thunder from vaccine gaint GSK by partnering University of Oxford to develop, manufacture and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine. The Oxford vaccine has taken a clear lead among COVID-19 vaccines in clinical development, raising the hope of ending the pandemic earlier than expected . . .

Soriot’s fighting skills were at full display when he defended AstraZeneca against the takeover attempt by the much larger rival Pfizer.

FAQs Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

What are the stages of developing a vaccine?

Vaccine has several development stages given that the development is a complex process. But typically, the making of a vaccine is done in three phases.

What happens in Phase 1?

In the first stage, the vaccine candidate undergoes pre-clinical studies where it is tested on cell cultures and animals such as mice and monkeys to assess the safety, immune response and dosing. The fate of most vaccine candidates is determined in this stage. It takes about 6 months to 2 years for preclinical studies. The vaccine company approaches a drug regulator with the pre-clinical data for permission to initiate human testing. The vaccine is then given to healthy adults, usually 20-80 subjects to assess its safety.

What happens in Phase 2?

The vaccine is tested on several hundreds of participants, including individuals with high risk of acquiring a disease. Phase 2 is a randomised controlled trial, which includes a placebo group. Phase 2 is to establish whether the vaccine candidate is safe, induces immune response and proposed doses or immunisation schedule.

What happens in Phase 3?

Phase 3 is conducted on 20,000-40,000 people to find out the safety, whether the vaccine candidate can stop people from getting COVID-19 in the real world and how long the protection lasts. To get this information, it takes years in a natural setting, though the process can be sped up, by using human challenge trials where a vaccinated person, is deliberately exposed to the virus. There are ethical issues here. It is after Phase 3 that a regulator takes a call on approving the vaccine.

How soon can we expect a vaccine?

Vaccine developers are trying to compress the timelines as much as possible. The average timeline that's widely cited is 12-18 months. That's an unprecedented — quick — timeline. Conventionally, vaccine development is a linear process, wherein the development, clinical trials and manufacturing would occur one after the other. This is to ensure that the financial risk is less. But now vaccine developers are concurrently doing animal studies, clinical trials and scaling up manufacturing to avoid loss of time. Even regulators are responding to the speed.

What is a reasonable timeline?

So far 22 potential vaccines have entered the human testing phase, out of which 5 are in Phase 3, or late-stage clinical trials, with a possible rollout as early as the end of the year, or early 2021. Phase 3 trials usually require tens of thousands of human participants on whom the vaccine is tested for safety and efficacy. So far the Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of the vaccines have been encouraging.

How will the vaccine be supplied?

Once the vaccine is developed, it has to be manufactured at scale. Experts foresee an unprecedented over 7 billion vaccinations to be administered worldwide. Vaccines are injectables and so the risk of contamination is high. Availability of packaging materials like glass vials and seals is a challenge. Once the vaccine is out of the factory, ensuring equitable distribution is another big task. Every person, wherever he lives, regardless of his economic and social status condition has to get access to vaccine. This is easier said than done.

What are the other challenges in distribution?

Vaccines require a cold chain because they have to be preserved at a certain temperature. The vaccine vials have to be transported safely from national warehouses to every health facility in every nook and corner. This requires a lot of planning, surveillance and a trained workforce to give vaccine shots. India does have experience distribution of vaccines, especially with its polio immunisation.

Who will get the vaccine first?

There is a vexing debate on who would get the vaccine first. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to come up with guidelines, but experts broadly agree that health workers, vulnerable people like elderly, people with comorbidities and people in regions where the outbreak is hitting the hardest.

What could be the tentative price of such a vaccine?

Given that this is a public health emergency, the government should foot the bill of vaccination. Every citizen in India should get vaccine at free of cost. A safe and effective vaccine that can end the pandemic is the ultimate investment that a government could make at the moment. So far, the Indian government has been tight-lipped on this. Vaccine making is costly. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute, has hinted about the Oxford University vaccine availability at Rs 1,000 per dose. The tentative price of COVID-19 vaccine ranges from Rs 1,000 per dose- Rs 30,000 per dose.

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