South Korea's Enzychem to make Indian drugmaker Cadila's COVID-19 shot

A woman holds a medical syringe and a small bottle labelled "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine
A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a "Coronavirus COVID-19 Vaccine" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken October 30, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic//File Photo

BENGALURU, Nov 24 (Reuters) - South Korea's Enzychem Lifesciences (183490.KQ) would make at least 80 million doses of India's homegrown DNA COVID-19 vaccine from Cadila Healthcare (CADI.NS), the Indian drugmaker said on Wednesday.

As part of the deal, Cadila will transfer the DNA vaccine technology to Enzychem, which will make and sell the vaccine, ZyCoV-D, within its territory under the Cadila trademark. Cadila will get license fees and royalty payments, the company said in a filing to stock exchanges.

"(The DNA) technology allows vaccines to be produced at affordable costs in record times, and DNA vaccines are considerably stable," said Ki Young Sohn, chairman of Enzychem Lifesciences.

"ZyCoV-D is administered without needles and can be deployed more readily, especially in resource-poor populations."

Cadila's vaccine, which is administered in three doses, was approved by India's drug regulator in August for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above, though it has yet to be rolled out as part of the county's vaccination drive.

Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shailesh Kuber

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