Bharat Bio’s nasal vaccine makes CoWin debut | Hyderabad News

HYDERABAD: Bharat Biotech‘s intranasal Covid-19 vaccine, iNCOVACC finally made its debut on the CoWin app on Saturday evening. However, the Hyderabad-based company is yet to announce the pricing for the vaccine and its availability for use. A decision is expected next week, according to sources.
On Friday morning, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had announced that the government had cleared inclusion of iNCOVACC in the Covid-19 immunisation drive. He had also said that the vaccine would be available in private hospitals to start with and that it would be added to the CoWin app by Friday evening.

The vaccine, which was developed in collaboration with Washington University at St Louis, is a recombinant replication-deficient adenovirus vectored vaccine with a pre-fusion stabilized spike protein.
According to Bharat Biotech chairman & managing director, Dr Krishna Ella iNCOVACC was ideal for Covid-19 because it offers mucosal immunity.
“We have also figured out some new immunology with the nasal vaccine, something that even the Americans could not. Nasal vaccine offers IgA mucosal immunity, IgG and T-cell response. But it doesn’t really develop the immune response to all the viruses properly for various reasons and we have figured out that science. It will be the next big thing because it will stop Covid-19 transmission,” Ella had told STOI earlier.
The nasal drops vaccine is easy to use as it has to be administered into the nostrils with the help of a dropper. According to the Bharat Biotech website, the vaccine requires the administration of four drops in each nostril with a gap of 30 seconds each to keep the head tilted back to ensure proper absorption by the mucosal lining.
The vaccine is also easy to store and distribute, especially in low and middle-income countries, as it remains stable at 2-8°C and does not require a very elaborate cold chain infrastructure.
Bharat Biotech has established large manufacturing capabilities at multiple sites across India, including Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana and does not face capacity constraints as it did with Covaxin, which was developed on the vero cell platform that offers low yields.
iNCOVACC bagged EUA as a primary two-dose vaccine from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in early September 2022, followed by EUA in late November 2022 for use as a booster for those who have taken two doses of Covishield or Covaxin. Both the approvals for iNCOVACC are for those aged 18 years and above.