Cadila Healthcare jumps 5% on receiving nod for human trials of Covid-19 drug

NEW DELHI: Shares of Cadila Healthcare climbed nearly 5 per cent in Friday's trade after the Ahmedabad-based company received a nod from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for human clinical trials of an indigenously developed Covid 19 vaccine.

The approval process was fast-tracked, following recommendation by the subject expert committee and considering the emergency and unmet medical need during the pandemic.

Following the development, the stock rose 4.6 per cent to hit a high of Rs 380 on BSE.

A source told PTI that DCGI's Dr V G Somani has given approval for the phase I and II clinical trials on humans after its animal studies were found to be successful.

The company is likely to start enrolment of subjects soon.

"The phase I and II trials will take around three months to be completed," the source said.

A couple of days earlier, the country's first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Virology (NIV), had got the nod for human clinical trials from the DCGI.

The assent for human trials for Cadila's vaccine was given after the company submitted data of clinical trial on animals to the DCGI, in which the vaccine candidate was found to be successful with respect to safety and immunogenicity, sources said.

India's virus cases jumped to 6,04,641 on Thursday with a single-day increase of 19,148 cases, just five days after it crossed the five-lakh mark.

The shares of the company closed 0.83 per cent higher at Rs 366.25 on BSE.