Bharat Biotech to ramp up Covaxin’s production by additional 200 million doses

Covaxin’s developer Bharat Biotech said on Thursday that it is planning to ramp up the production of its COVID-19 vaccine by an additional 200 million doses per year. 

In a statement on Thursday, shared by Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella, Bharat Biotech said that its announcement will effectively take the total volume of COVID vaccine doses to nearly a billion per year.

The Hyderabad-based biotechnology company has ramped up the manufacturing capacity at its Ankleshwar-based subsidiary in Gujarat.

“The company plans to produce 200 million doses of Covaxin per year in its GMP facilities that are already operational for the production of vaccines based on Inactivated Vero Cell Platform Technology, under stringent levels of GMP and biosafety,” the firm said.

In April, Bharat Biotech increased its manufacturing capacity to 700 million doses per annum.

The company developed Covaxin in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology last year.

It was recently approved by India’s drug regulator for Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials in the age group of 2 to 18 years.