COVID-19: 16 companies get funds for R&D work

MUMBAI: The department of biotechnology has granted funds to 16 companies for developing drugs, vaccines and devices to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as India looks to speed up the process of tackling the disease. People aware of the development said it is to the tune of ₹50 crore to ₹200 crore.

Zydus Cadila and Bharat Biotech received funds for developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19. Cadila is working on a DNA vaccine, while Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad is using the inactivated rabies vector platform. The DBT granted funds to Serum Institute of India to scale up the phase 3 human trials of a recombinant BCG vaccine and to National Institute of Immunology for development of a novel vaccine evaluation platform.

The department received over 500 applications in response to its call for proposals from companies working on vaccines and drugs against Covid-19 in early February.