India’s first COVID-19 vaccine COVAXIN,is granted DCGI approval.

COVAXIN India’s first COVID-19 vaccine,is Granted DCGI approval; human trials are expected to begin in July

• Bharat Biotech has developed the drug. 
• Human clinical trials are expected to launch in India in July 2020. 

COVAXIN

The first COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India, COVAXIN, was approved by the DCGI drug regulator for phase I & phase II clinical trials in humans. The drug was developed by Bharat Biotech.

• It has been established in cooperation with the Indian Scientific Research Council (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). NIV, Pune was isolated from the SARS-CoV-2 strain and transferred to Bharat Biotech. 

• Bharat Biotech has developed and manufactured the Indigenous, Inactivated Vaccine. 

• A variety of drug makers across the globe are trying to find a coronavirus antidote but no pharmaceutical firm has yet dominated the race. 

• Earlier Monday, Reuters announced that the Chinese army has been given the green light to use the vaccine candidate COVID-19 developed by its testing unit and CanSino Biologics after clinical trials have proven that it is effective and has demonstrated some efficacy. 

• Several medications have been tested for their effectiveness against COVID-19, a coronavirus-related disease, but have fallen short. Gilead Sciences' remdesivir has been shown to be effective in minimizing the time spent by sick people in the hospital, but a treatment is yet to be discovered. 

• COVID-19 has affected more than 10 million people worldwide and killed half a million of them.