PR84334

NEW DELHI, June 10, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- Collaboration will enable global development, manufacturing and distribution

of the Candidate COVID-19 vaccine

    Panacea Biotec is advancing its response to address the unprecedented

challenges of COVID-19 by collaborating with Refana Inc. USA to make COVID-19

vaccine widely accessible around the world in an equitable manner through a

Joint Venture company to be based in Ireland.

    Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1178902/Panacea_Biotec_Logo.jpg

    The collaboration aims to bring to patients a whole inactivated virus-based

vaccine for COVID-19. Under the collaboration, Panacea Biotec will be

responsible for product development and commercial manufacturing, with the

Joint Venture undertaking clinical development and regulatory submissions

across the World. Both Panacea and Refana will undertake sales and distribution

of the vaccine in their respective territories.

    Dr. Rajesh Jain, Managing Director, Panacea Biotec, said, "The world needs

a vaccine that is safe, effective, and scalable in a cGMP compliant

manufacturing facility that has sizeable capacity and capability to cater to

global demand. Our collaboration with Refana aims to manufacture over 500

million doses of our COVID-19 candidate vaccine, with over 40 million doses

expected to be available for delivery early next year. Whole inactivated viral

vaccines have a higher probability of being safe and efficacious, given their

long history and better understanding of their mechanism of action, which has

been elucidated over many decades. This vaccine has the potential to become the

Vaccine of Choice for the global fight against COVID-19. We believe and hope

that our vaccine will enable the world to get back to work fearlessly as soon

as possible."

    Dr Phillip Schwartz stated, "Refana and its international network of

scientific researchers and practitioners are dedicated to finding practical

solutions to complex and urgent global medical problems. We are grateful for

the input we have obtained from dozens of medical scientists and

epidemiologists in more than a dozen countries in this unprecedented worldwide

collaboration to end COVID-19. Our partnership with Panacea Biotec brings this

dream to a practical realization with the ability to manufacture 500 million

COVID-19 vaccines over 12 months. Utilizing proven models of viral pathogenesis

and parallel conduct of multiple pre-clinical and clinical studies, Refana

believes it can significantly accelerate the vaccine development and approval

process for its tried and true whole inactivated viral vaccine approach. We are

very excited to combine this approach with Panacea Biotec's world class

technology, development and production capabilities."

    About Panacea Biotec

    Panacea Biotec is an innovation-led biotechnology group that focuses on

discovery, development, and commercialisation of prescription medicines. Its

facilities are WHO Prequalified, US FDA approved and cGMP compliant. It is also

undertaking development of a novel Tetravalent Dengue Vaccine, Pneumococcal

Conjugate vaccine among other differentiated drug development programs.

    In April 2019, India Resurgence Fund (IndiaRF), a leading India-focused

investment platform, promoted by Piramal Enterprises Limited and Bain Capital

Credit, announced an investment of up to INR 992 Crores / US$ 144 Million in

Panacea Biotec.

For more information, visit: www.panaceabiotec.com

    About Refana

    Dr Schwartz is the Chief Scientific and Medical advisor to Refana Inc., and

the founder and president of NASDAQ listed EnteraBio. Refana Inc., is United

States registered private corporation dedicated to finding practical and

innovative solutions to the world's medical problems. By utilizing a highly

collaborative open source system of research and development Refana has been

able to attract world leaders in their respective scientific and medical fields

to work on these problems. Through this model Refana hopes to greatly

accelerate the vaccine development process for Covid-19 and help protect not

only the health of the world, but also the economies and stability of nations

at risk.

    For more information regarding Refana and this announcement, please contact

Debbie Fuller, Tel: +44-7494-636015, info@refana.com and pr@refana.com

    For more information:

    For Investors:        

    Mr. Devender Gupta

    Chief Financial Officer and Head Information Technology

    Tel: + 91-11-41679000 Ext. 1225, 41578011 (Direct)

    Email: devendergupta@panaceabiotec.com

    For Media:

    Mr. P.D. Karan

    Vice President Corporate Communication & Business Development

    Tel: + 91-11-4167900 Ext.1406

    41578080 (Direct)

    Email: pdkaran@panaceabiotec.com

    Source: Panacea Biotec