Zydus Cadila rises on receiving DCGI approval for ZyCoV-D phase 3 trials

The integrated pharmaceutical company, Zydus Cadila announced during the weekend that it has received a nod from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to commence the phase 3 clinical trials of plasmid DNA vaccine ZyCoV-D to prevent COVID-19. Reacting to the news, its share opened nearly 3 per cent higher on BSE. 

The company will begin phase 3 clinical trial in around 30,000 volunteers. The launch of phase 3 will help to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19. 

The phase II study of the vaccine was conducted in over 1,000 healthy adult volunteers as a part of the adaptive phase I/II dose-escalation, a multi-centric, randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled study. ZyCoV-D was found to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. 

Zydus Cadila’s vaccine technology centre has a wide range of capabilities in developing and manufacturing viral, polysaccharide, conjugate and other subunit vaccines. 

On Monday at 10.46 am, its share was trading 1.35 per cent higher at Rs 484.95. It recorded an intraday high of Rs 492.95 and an intraday low of Rs 483 on BSE.