* Exports to Brazil, UAE likely this week- Bharat Biotech
* India using Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN in vaccination drive
* India orders 14.5 mln more doses of COVAXIN, AstraZeneca
shot
(Adds details, quotes)
By Anuron Kumar Mitra and Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - India's Bharat Biotech said on
Tuesday it was likely to export its COVID-19 vaccine to Brazil
and the United Arab Emirates this week, a major success for the
shot approved at home for emergency use without efficacy data
from a late-stage trial.
Bharat Biotech has already supplied millions of doses of
COVAXIN, developed with the state-run Indian Council of Medical
Research, to its home government's inoculation drive. The
government has also aggressively pushed locally-made vaccines
abroad as part of a diplomatic campaign.
"Mostly yes," a Bharat Biotech spokeswoman told Reuters when
asked if exports to the two countries could begin this week as
reported by local media.
The company expects results from an ongoing trial involving
25,800 participants in India only by March, though the country's
drug regulator has called the vaccine safe and effective amid
criticism from doctors and health experts. A study on 26
participants has found COVAXIN effective against the UK strain
of the coronavirus.
Bharat Biotech has also applied to conduct a Phase III trial
for COVAXIN in Brazil, which plans to import 8 million doses of
it in February and another 12 million in March.
Bharat Biotech has also sought emergency use authorisation
in the Philippines.
The company has supplied 5.5 million doses to the Indian
government and is selling 4.5 million more, the spokeswoman
added.
India has also ordered 10 million more doses of the
AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India
(SII), a company spokesman told Reuters. SII is mainly
manufacturing the shot for low-and middle-income countries.
INDIA CAMPAIGN
The two shots have been used in what India calls the world's
biggest immunisation programme to cover 300 million people by
August, starting with healthcare and other workers to reach the
elderly and those with existing conditions by March.
SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, had supplied 11
million doses for the inoculation drive, which has covered 6.3
million front-line workers since it began on Jan. 16.
"The second order is already in place, it's for 10 million
doses," an SII spokesman said, adding that the figure was part
of the 100 million doses the company has agreed to sell to the
government for 200 rupees ($2.74) each.
India's drug regulator says SII's COVISHIELD vaccine is
about 72% effective.
The regulator is expected to approve Russia's Sputnik V and
Cadila Healthcare's ZyCov-D vaccines in the next few
months.
India's infections rose 9,110 in the last 24 hours to stand
at 10.85 million, the world's highest tally after the United
States, though they have fallen sharply from a mid-September
peak of nearly 100,000.
The health ministry said a daily toll of less than 100
deaths over the last four days took the total to more than
155,000.
($1=72.9000 Indian rupees)
(Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/)
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi and Anuron Kumar
Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Louise
Heavens)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
