Pfizer was the first company to seek emergency-use authorisation (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine in India, but the government this month approved two much cheaper shots – one from Oxford University/AstraZeneca and another developed at home by Bharat Biotech with the Indian Council of Medical Research.
India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) says Pfizer officials failed to turn up to meetings after the company’s application was made in early December. The regulator has also declined to accept the company’s request for approval without a small local trial on the vaccine’s safety and immunogenicity for Indians, Reuters has reported.
