If India's Zydus Cadila Shot Is Cleared, It Will Set A Global First

Zydus' vaccine "will certainly help in ramping up India's overall vaccination drive as it would be the fifth approved," Prashant Khadayate, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at GlobalData said.

Indian drugmaker Zydus Cadila said on Thursday it has applied for emergency use approval of its three-dose COVID-19 vaccine that showed efficacy of 66.6% in an interim study and could become the second home-grown shot if regulators consent. Although coronavirus infections have dropped from a devastating peak in April and May that strained healthcare facilities, experts have warned of a third wave, saying widespread vaccination is one of the best pandemic defences. Zydus' vaccine "will certainly help in ramping up India's overall vaccination drive as it would be the fifth approved," Prashant Khadayate, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at GlobalData said. Zydus said the efficacy result is based on an interim analysis of a late-stage trial of more than 28,000 volunteers nationwide, including nearly 1,000 subjects in the age group of 12 to 18.