BackBharat Biotech to sell Covaxin to states at ₹600 per dose, Pvt hospitals at ₹1,200
Covaxin’s price is higher than what Serum Institute of India plans to charge for its covid-19 vaccine Covishield, at ₹400 per dose for central and state governments and ₹600 for private hospitals
PremiumNEW DELHI : Bharat Biotech International Ltd on Saturday announced that it will sell its covid-19 vaccine to state governments at ₹600 per dose and to private hospitals at ₹1,200 per dose, a sharp jump from prices it currently charges the Centre for supply.
“Bharat Biotech is honoured to develop, manufacture and supply Covaxin for India’s vaccine rollout at ₹150 per dose, which is distributed for free by the government of India. We would like to state that more than 50% of our capacities have been reserved for Central government supplies," Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said in a statement on Saturday.
Ella also said that the company will charge $15-$20 for its vaccine during export to other countries.
Covaxin’s price is higher than what Serum Institute of India plans to charge for its covid-19 vaccine Covishield, at ₹400 per dose for central and state governments and ₹600 for private hospitals.
However, Bharat Biotech, unlike Serum Institute, has kept its price of Covaxin for supplies to Centre unchanged at ₹150. Serum Institute has said that it has raised the price of all fresh orders for central to ₹400 per dose from ₹150 for the current order of 110 million doses.
While Serum Institute’s vaccine has an efficacy of 53-79%, depending on the interval between two doses, Bharat Biotech’s latest interim data from its phase 3 trial in India showed that Covaxin had an efficacy of 78%.
Serum Institute is facing criticism for its high price of the vaccine, following a report by The Indian Express on Saturday which showed that the new price of ₹400-600 ($5.3-8.0) per dose of Covishield in India was higher than the price charged by the company and the vaccine’s co-developer AstraZeneca plc in other countries and World Health Organization-led Covax, where it sought anywhere between $3 to $5.25 per dose. In the US, AstraZeneca is planning to sell the vaccine at $4 per dose.
Serum Institute of India chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla on Saturday defended the company’s pricing of Covishield at ₹400 per dose for central and state governments and ₹600 for private hospitals, saying that it is still lower than most covid-19 treatments, and increasing the price was necessary to keep it sustainable.
“Only a limited portion of SII's volume will be sold to private hospitals at INR 600 per dose. The price of the vaccine is still lower than a lot of other medical treatment and essentials required to treat covid-19 and other life-threatening diseases," Serum Institute of India said in the statement.
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