The Indian drug company Zaidus said on Friday that it had obtained the approval of local regulators to start human studies on a vaccine for Covid-19, while new infections with the virus continue to rise in the fourth most affected country in the world.
The potential vaccine has shown a "strong immune response" in animal studies, and that the antibodies it produced are able to fully neutralize the virus, Zaidos, of Cadilla Healthcare, said in a statement to stock exchanges in India.
India's approval of the experiments of Zydus comes days after the private company Bharat Biotech received a similar green light to conduct human studies on a possible vaccine.
Zedos said it would begin human trials this month on more than 1,000 people in multiple locations in India.
The commercial use of any Covid-19 vaccine has not been approved, but more than 12 of more than 100 possible vaccines are currently being tested in humans, and some have shown promising results in initial stage trials.