In an exclusive conversation with Fortune India, the executive chairperson of Biocon says India should immediately start mixing and matching existing vaccines to accelerate the vaccination drive.
Syngene International was started by Biocon in 1993 to provide research services for pharma companies. Three decades later, the entity wants to become a global science company in its own right.
India’s vaccine giant faces the huge social responsibility of supply into the domestic market and a contractual demand for export of vaccines to foreign countries.
As India battles the second wave of Covid-19, which has caused havoc across the country, healthcare companies have come to the fore as lifesavers, to ensure the attack of the virus is countered.
In a big move, India has opened up Covid-19 vaccinations for all adults. However, the country is beset by severe vaccine shortage and other challenges. Will increasing the demand base work?
The country’s daily requirement is over 10 million doses against the production of 2.9 million. The Sputnik V vaccine, which got the nod on Monday, will help bridge the gap, albeit marginally.
One of the issues with vaccine development is the enormous time required to produce one. The Covid-19 vaccine has shown the process can be expedited. But can the process be made even more faster?
RDIF has tied up with nearly a dozen contract manufacturers with idle capacity to produce some 1.5 billion doses of Sputnik V annually, more than what Serum and Bharat Biotech will jointly produce.
In the context of vaccination, effective communication should deliver clarity around who, when, where, and how much the vaccine will cost. And India's vaccine deployment can be a great case study.
