Zydus Cadila begins human trials of its potential Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D

News: India has started the clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccine – ZyCoV-D.

Facts:

• ZyCoV-D: It is a plasmid DNA vaccine designed and developed by Zydus, a pharmaceutical company.
• The vaccine comes under the Vaccine Discovery Programme supported by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission.

Additional Facts:

• National Biopharma Mission(NBM): It is an Academia-Industry Collaborative Mission for Accelerating Discovery Research to Early Development for Biopharmaceuticals. 
• Launched Year: It was launched in 2017 at a total cost of Rs 1500 crore and is 50% co-funded by World Bank loan.
• Objective: To enable and nurture an ecosystem for preparing India’s technological development capabilities in biopharmaceuticals including vaccines, medical devices and diagnostics to a level that will be globally competitive over the next decade.
• Implementation: Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
• Innovate in India(i3) Programme: Under this Mission, the Government has launched Innovate in India(i3) programme to create an enabling ecosystem to promote entrepreneurship and indigenous manufacturing in the biopharma sector.