Indian pharmaceutical giant Cipla has requested the Centre to help the company in bringing Moderna’s single-dose Covid19 booster vaccine in India.
As per reports, Cipla said its talks with Moderna on the COVID19 booster vaccine are nearing finalisation and for that, they are seeking the “partnership and support of the government to make this programme successful”.
Cipla also said it is about to commit over 1 billion US dollars as advance to the US pharmaceutical giant for bringing its booster vaccine to India.
To make the ambitious programme successful, Cipla requested the central government to provide confirmation on four critical points – exemption from price restriction, indemnification, bridging trial waiver and basic customs duty exemption.
CIpla claimed Moderna’s COVID19 vaccine has been rated at the highest efficacy with least side-effects and that the US company was also leading the development of boosters and vaccines for adolescents and paediatrics.
Cipla told the central government that it needs assurance from the government to include Moderna booster vaccine under the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, announced in April and made effective from May 1.
Also read: Moderna likely to launch single-dose Covid19 vaccine in India in 2022
Cipla recently entered into a partnership with Roche India to market and distribute its antibody cocktail (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) in India.
The antibody cocktail (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) is to be administered for the treatment of mild to moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and pediatric patients (12 years of age or older, weighing at least 40 kg) who are confirmed to be infected with SARS-COV2 and who are at high risk of developing severe COVID19 disease.