Trials of Sputnik V likely to resume in India, Pfizer announces COVID-19 vaccine by Nov

US pharma giant Pfizer, which is developing a potential coronavirus vaccine with German partner BioNTech, has said it could have the vaccine in November. The drugmaker has announced that it could apply for US authorisation of the vaccine by November.

In the wake of re-election in the November polls, US DonaldTrump, had promised a coronavirus vaccine in the United States by next month.

The new development has raised hopes of having a coronavirus vaccine as early as November. Soon after the announcement, Pfizer’s stocks gained by 3.4% in the markets.

Pfizer also said that the researchers are awaiting the safety data 44,000 people who took part in the clinical trials and those will not be available until next month.

Meanwhile, the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V that suffered a setback in India, may again resume the clinical trials being conducted by Dr Reddy’s.

The Indian Drug Regulator Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) put a stop on Dr Reddy’s Laboratories conducting clinical trials for Sputnik V. The Hyderbad-based pharmaceutical firm had on October 13reapplied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking permission to conduct combined Phase II and Phase III human clinical trials of the Russian vaccine in India.

In its revised protocol, the firm stated that the Phase II trial would include 100 subjects, while the Phase III trials would involve 1,400 volunteers

The Subject Experiment Committee (SEC) had on October 5 asked Dr Reddy’s to re-apply stating it will have to conduct both Phase II and Phase III clinical trials and cannot directly hold Phase III trial for the Covid-19 vaccine in India.