Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm that has been developing coronavirus vaccine Covaxin, today said that it had applied to the central drug regulator seeking emergency use authorisation.
It is the third firm after Serum Institute of India and American pharma giant Pfizer to apply for emergency use approval.
Covaxin is being indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and is currently in Phase 3 trials. The trials are on at 18 sites across the country with over 22,000 volunteers.
India recorded 32,981 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of active coronavirus cases in the country to 3,96,729, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. With 39,109 new recoveries, the number of overall recovered COVID-19 patients stand at 91,39,901, pushing the recovery rate to 94.45 per cent today.
The overall COVID-19 cases reached 96,77,203, including 3,96,729 active cases and 91,39,901 recoveries. With 391 new deaths, the casualties mounted to 1,40,573.