Ahmedabad-based vaccine manufacturer Zydus Cadila on 2 January announced that it has started supplying COVID vaccine ZyCoV-D to the Centre.

"The company has started the supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D, to the Government of India against their order from its newly-commissioned state of the art, Zydus Vaccine Technology Excellence Centre at the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad," Zydus said in a statement.

It is also planning to make the vaccine available in the private market, it added. ZyCoV-D is a three-dose vaccine administered intradermally using the painless PharmaJet needle-free system on day 0, day 28 and day 56. It will be priced at Rs 265 per dose and the applicator being offered at Rs 93 per dose excluding GST.

A Plasmid DNA vaccine, it, when administered, produces the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and elicits an immune response mediated by the cellular and humoral arms of the human immune system playing a vital role in protection from disease as well as viral clearance.

Zydus VTEC manufactures the drug substance for the needle-free vaccine. The manufacturing process and in-process material transfers within the plant are automated. Zydus has also entered into a definitive agreement with Shilpa Medicare Ltd, a contract manufacturing organisation, to produce the vaccine.

The company has also entered into an agreement with Enzychem Lifesciences of South Korea for the manufacturing license and technology transfer for the vaccine.