Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate shows 'robust immune responses' in animal study

"To summarise, the vaccine candidate was found to generate robust immune responses. Thus, preventing infection and disease in the primates upon high amounts of exposure to live SARS-CoV-2 virus," Bharat Biotech wrote on its website.

The results have demonstrated the protective efficacy in a live viral challenge model, the company tweeted.

The vaccine candidate was administered to 20 rhesus macaques classified into four, the company said.

"One group was administered with placebo, while three groups were immunised with three different vaccine candidates at zero and 14 days. All the macaques were exposed to viral challenge 14 days after the second dose," Bharat Biotech said.

"The results showed protective efficacy, increasing SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG and neutralising antibodies, reducing replication of the virus in the nasal cavity, throat, and lung tissues of monkey. No evidence of pneumonia was observed by histopathological examination in vaccinated groups, unlike the placebo group. Adverse events were not seen in animals immunised with a two-dose vaccination regimen," Bharat Biotech said.

Bharat Biotech started the human trial in July after Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) approved the trials.

A row erupted after reports surfaced that COVAXIN would hit the market before August 15; however, the government told a parliamentary standing committee that the vaccine couldn’t be launched before next year.