Biological E has sought emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator for its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for the 12 to 18 years age group, official sources said on February 13. 

The Drugs Controller General Of India (DCGI) has already approved Corbevax, which is India's first indigenously developed RBD protein sub-unit vaccine against COVID-19, for restricted use in emergency situation among adults on December 28. In an application sent to DCGI on February 9, Srinivas Kosaraju, head of Quality and Regulatory Affairs of Biological E Limited, said the firm had received approval for conducting phase 2/3 clinical study of Corbevax among children and adolescents aged 5-18 years in September.

"Based on the no-objection certificate, Biological E has initiated the clinical study in October 2021 and has evaluated the available safety and immunogenicity results of the ongoing phase 2/3 study, which indicated that the vaccine is safe and immunogenic.

"The proposed application is for obtaining permission for restricted use in an emergency situation in adolescents aged 12 to less than 18 years based on interim results (of the ongoing phase 2/3 clinical study) considering the current pandemic and widespread of COVID-19 vaccine in India," Kosaraju said in the application.

The Corbevax vaccine is administered through an intramuscular route with two doses scheduled 28 days apart and is stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius temperatures and presented as 0.5 ml (single dose) and 5 ml (10 doses) vial pack. According to the Health Ministry, the company has conducted phase 1/2, 2/3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country. Further, it has conducted a phase 3 active comparator clinical trial to evaluate superiority against the Covishield vaccine, it said.