Biological E Ltd (BE) has priced its Covid-19 vaccine, Corbevax, at ₹800 per dose (exclusive of GST) for the private market and ₹145 per dose for the government. According the company, the price will be around ₹990 including the Goods and Tax Service (GST).
Announcing its decision at a press conference here on Wednesday, Mahima Datla, Managing Director of BE, said the price to the government was ‘lowest’ compared to other Covid-19 vaccines.
The two-dose Corbevax, which has to be taken with a gap of 28 days, will also be made available for adults in the private market.
The Hyderabad-based company, however, has an order from the government to supply 30 crore doses for the public immunisation program for 12-14 year age group starting March 16. ,
“Biological E Limited has a capacity to produce over 100 million doses per month in order to ensure adequate supply and we are able to respond to any increasing demand too, should the need arise,’‘ Datla said, adding that the vaccine is being produced in its facilities in Hyderabad.
Currently, around 300 million doses of ready-to-use Corbevax are available and the company has a production capacity of up to 1 billion vaccines annually.
In the private market, Corbevax will be available within a few days. The pricing makes it the second most expensive Covid-19 vaccine in the private market after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.
BE is also looking at exports and has already approached the World Health Organization (WHO) for its pre-qualification. “The process is on and WHO may review soon,’‘ Datla said. As of now, the US is not on the radar of the company for exports but it has plans for Australia and South Africa. Corbevax is the first indigenous Indian vaccine to get EUA for vaccinating the Indian population between the age group of 12 and 80 years. It is a recombinant protein subunit vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
According to the company, during the clinical trials, Corbevax induced immune response demonstrated consistent neutralisation of the Ancestral SARS-COV-2 strain as well as the Variants of Concern such as Beta, Delta and Omicron.
It is superior’ to Covishield in neutralising antibody titers and there is ‘minimal drop’ in antibodies after six months of vaccination compared to other Covid-19 vaccines.
Vaccine development
Biological E collaborated with the Texas Children’s Hospital and the Baylor College to develop Corbevax.
Dynavax Inc from USA supported its development by providing the adjuvant and THSTI, Delhi conducted key immunogenicity testing as part of a comprehensive clinical trial development plan.
BIRAC, a division of the Department of Biotechnology, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Coalition for Epidemic Prevention and Innovation (CEPI) provided partial funding during clinical development.