A Canadian vaccine maker has tied up with a Hyderabad-based pharma company for production of the former’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Providence Therapeutics, headquartered in Calgary in the province of Alberta, has struck a deal with Biological E for transfer of technology from the Canadian company, while it will sell 30 million doses of its vaccine candidate, called PTX-Covid19-B.
“This sale represents the sale of all the remaining 2021 Providence production, plus a portion of the early 2022 Providence production, after accounting for the first sale of Providence vaccines to the Province of Manitoba, Canada,” a joint statement from the two companies said.
Providence CEO Brad Sorenson said, “This initiative is an important commitment by a Canada-based company to help India and other nations vaccinate their citizens against Covid-19. Providence was founded to serve patients, and this commitment by Biological E allows us to achieve that essential goal.”
However, the availability of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in India will be contingent upon it receiving the necessary emergency-use authorisation from India authorities.
Sorenson also said Providence was looking at “a minimum production capacity of 600 million doses in 2022 and a target capacity of one billion doses”.
Biological E will be responsible for clinical development and regulatory activities for the mRNA vaccine in India.
On May 12, Providence had announced “very favourable interim clinical data” for its Phase 1 study of the efficacy of the vaccine candidate.
While the company had originally looked at ramping up vaccine manufacturing capability within Canada, Sorenson had later complained of the lack of sustained support from the Canadian government that was forcing it to seek opportunities abroad.
“The mRNA platform has emerged as the front-runner in delivering the first vaccines for emergency use to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Biological E is very pleased to be able to work with Providence on its promising mRNA vaccine candidate. We hope to provide India and other countries yet another option to ramp up their efforts towards achieving herd immunity against Covid-19,” said Mahima Datla, managing director of Biological E.
