On December 22, 2020, Ocugen, Inc., (NASDAQ: OCGN), a leading biopharmaceutical company, and Bharat Biotech, a global leader in vaccine innovation, announced that the companies have signed a binding letter of intent (LOI) to co-develop Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, COVAXIN™, an advanced-stage whole-virion inactivated vaccine candidate, for the United States market. COVAXIN has been evaluated in approximately 1,000 subjects in Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical trials in India, with promising safety and immunogenicity data. The vaccine candidate is currently part of a Phase 3 clinical trial in India involving 26,000 volunteers. Per the LOI, Ocugen will have US rights to the vaccine candidate and, in collaboration with Bharat Biotech, will be responsible for clinical development, registration, and commercialization for the US market. The companies have begun collaborating and will finalize details of the definitive agreement in the next few weeks. This collaboration leverages Ocugen’s vaccine expertise, and its R&D and regulatory capabilities in the US. In preparation for the development of COVAXIN™ in the US, Ocugen has assembled a Vaccine Scientific Advisory Board featuring leading academic and industry experts to evaluate the clinical and regulatory path to approval in the US market. “COVAXIN™ utilizes a historically proven approach to vaccine design. The adjuvanted inactivated virus vaccine candidate elicited strong IgG responses against spike (S1) protein, receptor-binding domain (RBD) and the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2, along with strong cellular responses in Phase 1 and 2clinical trials.Login Or Register To Read Full Story