Beximco Pharma Joins Hand with India’s Serum Institute for COVID-19 Vaccine

Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited (BPL) will invest in the development of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Serum Institute of India (SII) Private Limited.

BPL will be the exclusive distributor of SII for this vaccine in Bangladesh, according to a press release issued on Friday reports BSS.

The expenditure amount will be treated as an advance and, as soon as the vaccine receives regulatory approvals, the SII will consider Bangladesh among the countries that will be the first to obtain the approved volume of this vaccine from SII on a priority basis.

Based on the output potential of SII and previous obligations to other countries, the expenditure volume of BPL and the priority supply obligation of SII would be calculated.

BPL will also make it simpler to satisfy the needs of the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) by providing the ability to allocate the required quantity for priority supplies at rates to be negotiated between GOB and SII.

The organization will also provide additional quantities of vaccine to be sold on the private pay sector in Bangladesh.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (AZD1222) is an adenovirus vector-based vaccine, currently undergoing large scale phase III trials in Brazil, US, UK and India. The UK trials are well underway and have shown very encouraging results and are expected to receive approval by the end of 2020. SII has already partnered with Oxford/AstraZeneca along with Gates Foundation and Gavi, to produce more than a billion doses of the vaccine for global supply.

Both Adar C Poonawalla, Owner and CEO of SII and Shayan F Rahman, Principal, BPL jointly commented, “We are excited to bring together two of the leading pharma companies in India and Bangladesh with the scale and capabilities to bring a hugely promising treatment to the people who need it the most. This landmark agreement reflects the deep-rooted desire for collaboration between the two countries and as representatives of the two nations, between us we can go a long way towards helping to mitigate the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”