DCGI's Expert Panel To Take Up Zydus Cadila's Application For Emergency Use Approval To Its COVID-19 Jab This Week: Report

The subject expert committee (SEC) of the Indian Drug Regulator is likely to take up Ahmedabad-based pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila's application for emergency use approval to its Covid-19 vaccine this week.

Zydus had last week approached the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use approval to its three-dose Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D.

“The rolling review has been done and now it will be put up before the SEC for its recommendations,” a senior government was quoted by Economic Times as saying.

“The meeting is likely to happen sometime this week," the official added.

The vaccine, if approved by the DCGI, will be the fifth vaccine to get Indian drug regulator's nod for use in India. The DCGI had earlier approved Serum Institute of India's Covishield, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V and US-based Moderna's Covid jab.

Zydus developed the DNA based vaccine with the support of the Central government's Department of Biotechnology and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The jab has shown 66.6 per cent efficacy in an interim study.