On July 14, 2020, Bharat Biotech started the first phase of human clinical trials for India’s first COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin. The drug is being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research’s Pune - based National Institute of Virology. On July 17, 2020, ZyCoV-D, the plasmid DNA vaccine designed and developed by Zydus Cadila and partially funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India has initiated Phase I/II clinical trials in healthy subjects, making it the first indigenously developed vaccine for COVID - 19 to be administered in humans in India. In November 2020, T he Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has stepped up research and development (R&D) amid COVID-19 and researchers are developing products such as a portable sterilisation device and germicidal cabinet; wheeled sterilisation unit, especially for hospitals; portable and rechargeable car sanitiser; eco - friendly sprays, and alcohol -f ree and bleach-free sanitisers.
On July 02, 2020, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories partnered with Japanese pharma giant Fujifilm Toyama Chemical and Global Response Aid (GRA) for development, manufacture and sale of Anti Viral Drug Avigan (favipiravir) tablets for potential Treatment of COVID-19. CP Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Wockhardt, will be manufacturing the AstraZeneca - Oxford University COVID - 19 vaccines for the UK government.
Jubilant Generics Ltd launched Remdesivir, the COVID-19 drug under the ‘JUBI-R’ brand at Rs. 4,700 (US$ 66.67) per vial in the Indian market. On July 16, 2020, Minister of Human Resource Development, Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' e- launched the World’s most affordable RT-PCR based COVID-19 diagnostic kit developed by Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Drugs Controller GeneralofIndia (DCGI). On September 9, 2020, Dr Reddy’s launched Redyx (Remdesivir) for the treatment of Covid-19 in the Indian market.
In June 2020, Government launched COVID BEEP (Continuous Oxygenation and Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod), India’s first indigenous and cost effective wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for COVID-19 patients, developed by ESIC Medical College Hyderabad in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and Department of Atomic Energy. In June 2020, VST MobilitySolutions, a start - up headquartered at Cochin, launched an automated mask disposal machine as part o fits effort to develop products to combat COVID-19.
