Johnson & Johnson in talks with India for trial of single-dose vaccine

A single dose vaccine could be a reality in India as US pharma giant Johnson & Johnson is in talks with India’s drug regulator DCGI to begin a clinical trial of its much-awaited single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in the country, according to news agency Reuters. The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is currently approved for use in the United States, the European Union and other nations including Thailand and South Africa.

“We are in discussions with the Government of India with the objective of starting a bridging clinical study of our Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate in India, subject to local regulatory approvals,” the company said in a statement.

“At Johnson & Johnson, we remain fully focused on bringing a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine to people around the world, if authorized for use by local health authorities,” it added.

In large clinical trials, the J&J vaccine’s efficacy against severe disease was 85.9 percent in the United States, 81.7 percent in South Africa, and 87.6 percent in Brazil. India currently has two approved vaccines in use, one developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and the other, a shot from local player Bharat Biotech. At over 83 million, AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine accounts for 90% of the doses administered in India so far. The remaining 8.1 million doses are of Bharat Biotech International’s Covaxin.

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There are other vaccine candidates in trials in India including Russia’s Sputnik-V and a shot developed by Cadila Healthcare Ltd. The Indian Express newspaper reported earlier on Friday that J&J had sent a letter to India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) saying it would “very shortly apply for permission to conduct clinical bridging trials in India”. India on Friday recorded the biggest jump in new infections the country with as many as 1,31,968 more people testing positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours,