Bharat Biotech grants Rs 172 crore royalty to ICMR from Covaxin sale

New Delhi: Pharma major Bharat Biotech has recently given the royalty of Rs 171.74 crore to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) from Covaxin sales. The Council had spent around Rs 35 crore in research and development (R&D) of Covaxin.

"Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has received royalty of Rs 171.74 crore till 31st January, 2022 from Bharat Biotech from sales of Covaxin," Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The Minister further said that funds with ICMR are utilised for health research activities including emerging research priorities and research capacity building. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had asked the question.

Covaxin is the first Covid-19 vaccine that has been developed completely in India. The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell derived platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects. They contain dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.

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In March 2020, following the successful isolation of the SARS CoV-2 virus at ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), ICMR entered into a public-private partnership (PPP) with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop the virus isolate into an effective vaccine candidate.

ICMR-NIV characterized the vaccine developed by BBIL through in-vitro experiments and electron microscopy studies. People in India have mostly received Covishield and Covaxin vaccine doses in the wake of pandemic. As many as 170.21 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under nationwide vaccination drive.

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