NEW DELHI: The prices of Covishield and Covaxin, which are awaiting regular market approval from India’s drug regulator, are likely to be capped at Rs 275 per dose reports said.
Currently, Covaxin is priced at Rs 1,200 per dose while Covishield costs Rs 780 in private facilities, which includes Rs 150 service charge.
A Subject Expert Committee on Covid-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had on January 19 okayed regular market approval to the two vaccines for use in adult population, subject to certain conditions.
However, the government is yet to announce the conditions for market sale.
According to reports, the authorities had asked the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to start working on the pricing to make the vaccines affordable.
Although the price will be capped at Rs 275, an additional service charge of Rs 150 will be added. The two vaccines were granted Emergency Use Authorisation on January 3, 2021.
The prices include Rs 150 service charge.
Both the vaccines are only authorised for emergency use in the country.
An Subject Expert Committee on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on January 19 recommended granting regular market approval to Covid vaccines Covishield and Covaxin for use in the adult population subject to certain conditions.
"The NPPA has been asked to work towards capping the price of the vaccines. The price is likely to be capped at Rs 275 per dose along with an additional service charge of Rs 150," an official source said.
Prakash Kumar Singh, the director (government and regulatory affairs) at Serum Institue of India, had submitted an application to the Drugs Controller General of India on October 25 seeking regular market approval for its Covishiled vaccine.
A couple of weeks ago, V Krishna Mohan, the whole-time director at Bharat Biotech, submitted complete information on the chemistry, manufacturing and controls, along with the pre-clinical and clinical data while seeking regular market authorisation for Covaxin.
Covaxin and Covishield were granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) on January 3 last year.
Meanwhile, the number of active Covid cases nationally is coming down. A reduction of 13,824 cases has been recorded in the active Covid caseload in a span of 24 hours, according to a health ministry bulletin.
The active cases have decreased to 22,23,018 and comprise 5.55% of the total infection, it added. A little over 2.85 lakh new cases were reported nationally on Wednesday, compared to 2.5 cases on Tuesday.
The three southern states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu accounted for 45% of the fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours at 49,771, 48,905 and 29,976, respectively.
Elsewhere, the case load is easing, with the number of active infections in Delhi halving in just 12 days after rising to a high of 94,160 on January 13.
(With PTI Inputs)