Tata Jumps The Bandwagon To Develop Vaccine With Moderna In India

Last updated on February 6th, 2021 at 09:01 am

Tata is planning to tie up with the American pharmaceutical company Moderna to bring in the Covid-19 vaccine. Moderna has developed one more candidate of the vaccine that guarantees comparatively lower efficacy levels in comparison to the other vaccine candidates. 

For this, Indian giant Tata will be putting its healthcare unit Tata Medical and Diagnostics in the forefront. Additionally, Tata has plans to tie up with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India’s premier research organization that will assist Tata is consulting clinical trials of Moderna’s vaccine candidate in India. 

However, foreign vaccine makers have been advised to carry out ‘bridging trials’ in countries like India that have a distinct climate and geographic divide that poses a unique threat to the efficacy of the medication. This is one reason, that the Centre has invested itself in developing an indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine. 

The Tata Medical and Diagnostics wing took birth in June 2020, amidst the rising need to develop vaccine candidates in India. The company has always used a significant strategy to move ahead, keeping its commitment to contributing to the nation-building effort of the company. 

According to an official statement made by the company, discussions are already underway with Moderna and the former is awaiting a go-ahead from the Centre for private sector participation in the development of a new vaccine candidate.  

Tata had already forayed into the healthcare market in November 2020, when it started to offer a Covid-19 test kit that gives results in less than an hour and as precise as the RT-PCR method. Called the Feluda, this nasal swab test was developed jointly by Tata and the government. It was said to be more accurate than the rapid antigen test that was most favored in India, according to the ministry of science and technology in September 2020.