Pune's Sassoon General Hospital will start conducting next week Phase-III trials of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc.
Serum Institute of India, which is headquarterd in Pune, has partnered with the U.K.-Swedish pharmaceutical and biologics company to manufacture the potential vaccine.
“The Phase-III trial of 'Covishield' vaccine will begin at Sassoon Hospital next week. It is likely to start on Monday,” Dr Muralidhar Tambe, dean of Sassoon General Hospital told the Press Trust of India. “Some volunteers have already come forward for the trial. Around 150-200 volunteers will be administered the vaccine candidate dose.”
“From Saturday, the hospital started enrolling volunteers for the trial. Those who are willing to volunteer for the vaccination should contact the hospital,” he said. Under Phase-II, trials were conducted at Bharti Vidyapeeth Medical College and also at KEM Hospital in the city.
Serum Institute had earlier this month paused the clinical trials of the potential Covid-19 vaccine in India after AstraZeneca paused the trials in other countries because of “an unexplained illness” in a participant in the study.
However, on Sept. 15, the Drug Controller General of India gave permission to the Adar Poonawalla-led company to resume clinical trials of the vaccine.
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