KTR assures help to vaccine companies

Hyderabad: Municipal Administration Minister KT Rama Rao on Friday assured all help from the government to expedite the various steps involved in commercialisation of Covid vaccines and said that it was also exploring various options to procure sufficient quantities of vaccine for people.

The special taskforce headed by KTR, constituted to procure necessary vaccines and medicines for Covid management, met top managements of various pharmaceutical companies at Pragathi Bhavan on Friday. The taskforce members discussed various issues in depth with heads of the companies that are involved in the production of vaccines. Among the issues discussed were the progress in development of various types of vaccines by different companies, their production capacities, and the tentative availability in the market.

The taskforce team also discussed alternative treatment options to drugs that are in high demand (like Remdesivir). It decided to advise the medical fraternity to explore these options. Among those who participated in the meeting were representatives from Natco Pharma, Biological E Ltd, Bharath Biotech, Serum Institute of India, Sanofi India, Virchow Biotech, Zydus Cadila, Hetero Drugs, Gland Pharma, Indian Immunologicals, and Dr Reddys Labs.

As part of its corporate social responsibility, TSIIC has contributed Rs 1.19 crore towards taking up activities for mitigation of Covid in the State. A cheque for the amount was handed over by EV Narasimha Reddy, Managing Director TSIIC, to the Commissioner of State Disaster Management Authority Rahul Bojja.