COVID Vaccine: Zydus Cadila To Begin Phase II Clinical Trials From Aug 6

New Delhi: Phase I clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D of the drug firm Zydus Cadila has been completed and phase II of the clinical trials will commence from August 6.

“ZyCoV-D was found to be safe and well-tolerated in phase I of the clinical trial. The company will now commence phase II clinical trials from August 6, 2020,” Business Standard reported quoting PTI.

Zydus Cadila Chairman Pankaj R Patel said the phase I dosing to establish the safety of ZyCoV-D is an important milestone, the report added.

“The company reports that the doses of the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers in phase I of the clinical trial, which began on July 15, 2020, has been well-tolerated,” Cadila Healthcare, the listed entity of the group, said in a regulatory filing.

“All the subjects in phase I clinical trial were closely monitored in a clinical pharmacological unit for 24 hours post-dosing for safety and for 7 days thereafter and the vaccine was found to be very safe. We now begin the phase II clinical trials and look forward to evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine in a larger population, Patel added in the Business Standard report.

Zydus is the second Indian pharmaceutical firm to get a nod for human trials for its COVID vaccine candidate after COVAXIN, developed by city-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology.