Cadila Healthcare, Enzychem Lifesciences ink pact for DNA Covid-19 vaccine

New Delhi: Cadila Healthcare Ltd. (CHL) has recently announced that the company has entered into a manufacturing license and technology transfer agreement for its Plasmid DNA based Covid-19 (ZyCoV-D ) vaccine with Enzychem Lifesciences of Republic of Korea.

CHL will provide manufacturing license and transfer the Plasmid DNA vaccine technology to Enzychem Lifesciences.

"Both CHL and Enzychem believe that this partnership will lead to an estimated manufacturing of 80 million or more doses of the Plasmid DNA vaccine in 2022," the BSE filing said.

Under the agreement, Enzychem will manufacture and commercialise the vaccine within its territory under a Zydus trademark and CHL will receive the license fees and royalty payments for the same.

ZyCoV-D is the first DNA plasmid vaccine in the world for human use, developed indigenously by CHL against the Covid-19 virus. The vaccine is administered intradermally using the PharmaJet needle free applicator, which ensures painless intradermal vaccine delivery.

Speaking on the development, Dr. Sharvil Patel, Managing Director, Cadila Healthcare Ltd., said "We are very happy to partner with Enzychem Lifesciences and provide access to the technology behind the needle-free, Plasmid DNA vaccine technology which is the first of its kind in the world. Our aim is to provide new innovations and novel technologies that can support people with better approaches to healthcare. This agreement enables people in South Korea and other key markets of Enzychem, the access to a safe, well tolerated and efficacious vaccine with a novel platform to fight COVID-19."

Mr. Ki Young Sohn, Chairman of Enzychem Lifesciences said: "Today marks an important milestone for our vaccine consortium as we embark on the manufacturing of the world's first in-class DNA vaccine for humans. This technology allows vaccines to be produced at affordable costs in record times, and DNA vaccines are considerably stable. ZyCoV-D is administered without needles and can be deployed more readily, especially in resource-poor populations where these are urgently needed". "With state of-the-art manufacturing facilities and a qualified workforce dedicated to manufacturing high quality products, we are very eager to partner with Zydus in addressing the global demand for COVID vaccines, especially in low-medium income countries."

Read also: Zydus Cadila ZyCov-D to be administered only to adults: Report