Covid vaccine from Hyderabad’s Biological E Limited gets WUL from WHO

Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Biological E. Limited (BE) on Tuesday announced receiving Emergency Use Listing (EUL) from Word Health Organization (WHO) for its Corbevax, the Covid-19 vaccine that is based on protein sub-unit platform.

Managing Director, Biological E Limited, Mahima Datla said the EUL will help continue developing Covid-19 vaccines as and when it starts impacting public health. “We understand several countries come under fiscal pressure when it comes to dealing with Covid-19. We aim to reach the people in those countries with Corbevax,” she said.

Corbevax vaccine has already received green signal from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted use in emergency among adults, adolescents and young children in December’21 to April’22. It also received regulatory permission for the use as a heterologous Covid-19 booster shot for adults over 18 years.

As a part of the Covid immunization



drive for 12 to 14 years children, so far Biological E Limited has supplied 100 million doses of Corbevax to the Central Government.

“While several companies which entered the field of vaccine development and manufacturing during the Covid pandemic, exited afterwards either due to paucity of funds or lack of success, we continue to remain active to develop and provide access to better and affordable vaccines globally,’’ Mahima Datla said.

BE is working on a next-generation Covid-19 vaccine that is based on the XBB1.5 variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would conform to WHO TAG-CO-VAC recommendations. The candidate vaccine has completed all required pre-clinical animal studies, which suggest that it will provide adequate protection against the currently circulating variants.

BE has recently received final approval from CDSCO to begin clinical trials of the XBB.1.5 variant vaccine in India and clinical trials will commence soon.