All you want to know about `Corbevax', `Covovax', `Molnupiravir' pill

Hyderabad: Centre has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for city-based Biological E (BE's) Covid vaccine `Corbevax', Serum Institute of India (SII's) Covovax, and the anti-Covid pill `Molnupiravir'.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya made the announcement in a series of tweets on Tuesday, a day after the subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) recommended granting emergency use authorization (EUA) to Covovax and Corbevax with certain conditions.

With the latest approvals, the number of Covid vaccines that have received EUA in the country has increased to eight.

Hyderabad-based Biological E's Corbevax has been approved for people above 18 years of age. The vaccine is stored at 2-8˚C temperatures and comes as 0.5 ml single-dose and 5 ml (10 doses) vial pack. Bio E has conducted phase I/II, II/III clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in the country. Further, it has also conducted a phase III active clinical trial to evaluate superiority against the Covishield vaccine.

The vaccine has been developed by Biological E. Limited in collaboration with Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development (Texas Children's CVD) and Baylor College of Medicine (Baylor) in Houston, Texas, USA.

According to B.E., the vaccine will be effective both in scale and affordability, providing sustainable access to low-and middle-income countries.

Covovax vaccine from Serum has been approved for adults. It is a technology transfer of the Novavax USA vaccine and a two-dose vaccine given on day 0 and 21. The vaccine is stored at 2-8˚C temperatures and presented as 0.5 ml single-dose and 5 ml 10 doses vial pack. The European Medicines Agency has granted conditional approval to the Novovax vaccine while Covovax has been granted emergency use listing (EUL) by WHO.

Molnupiravir is an antiviral that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication by viral mutagenesis. The UK MHRA had on December 12 granted approval for Molnupiravir under special conditions for treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid-19 in adults with a positive SARS-COV-2 diagnostic test and who have at least one risk factor for developing severe illness.

The USFDA granted EUA for Molnupiravir on December 23 for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe Covid-19, including hospitalization or death, and for whom alternative Covid-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA were not accessible or clinically appropriate.

Dr. Reddy's, Natco, MSN, Hetero, Optimus, Aurobindo, Mylan, Strides, Emcure, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Torrent, and BDR are the 13 companies that have been granted permission to manufacture and market Molnapiravir.