Zydus Cadila starts enrolment for late stage vaccine trial

Late stage human trials of Zydus Cadila’s three-dose Covid-19 vaccine begun in the country this week, with the enrolment and vaccination of participants underway, The Indian Express has learnt. This puts the Ahmedabad-headquartered company right behind Dr Reddy’s Laboratories in the pipeline of vaccines that the country may be adding to its arsenal against the virus that has killed 1.5 lakh and infected over a crore.

“Enrolment began (at some of the sites) this week,” said a person close to the development on condition of anonymity. According to another, some other trial sites are still in the process of site inspections — a check by regulatory authorities of the place where the clinical trials will take place, following which clearance is given to enrol and vaccinate participants.

Queries sent to Zydus Cadila on Wednesday remained unanswered by press time on Thursday.

The trials are expected to take place at five sites across four cities — Surat, Nashik, Jaipur and Ahmedabad, according to information from the Clinical Trials Registry of India.