India's Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Friday visited the facilities of pharma major Novavax saying its partnership with Serum Institute of India (SII) is an example of the “robust” India-US healthcare cooperation.
Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Novavax is a biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of vaccines to prevent infectious diseases.
During his discussions with Stanley C Erck, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Novavax, Sandhu said the partnership between Novavax and SII is another example of the “robust India-US healthcare cooperation”, especially in the manufacturing of affordable and accessible vaccines and medicines.
Erck briefed the ambassador on the high efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine as per trials held so far. In January 2020, Novavax announced development of a coronavirus vaccine candidate. Subsequently Novavax and India’s SII had entered into a vaccine manufacture agreement with the Novovax vaccine expected to be distributed as 'Covavax' in India.
On June 14, Novavax had announced overall 90.4 per cent efficacy in Phase-3 trials in US and Mexico. Sandhu noted that healthcare sectors in both countries have been collaborating through joint research, sharing of technical expertise and knowledge exchange.
The Indian envoy has reached out to a large number of pharma companies in the US. His outreach to vaccine manufacturers/firms in the vaccine supply chain include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Air Products, AdvaMed, Thermo Fisher, Eli Lilly, Pall Corporation, Antylia, Cytiva, Genentech, Ligand, etc.
Earlier this month, he had also visited Ocugen and Jubilant Pharma facilities. Founded in 1987, Novavax operates through developing recombinant vaccines. The company, through its recombinant nanoparticle vaccine technology, produces vaccine candidates to respond to both known and newly emerging diseases.
Its product pipeline focuses on a range of infectious diseases with vaccine candidates in clinical development for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), seasonal influenza, pandemic influenza and the Ebola virus.
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