Clinically tried and tested: Bharat Biotech boss Ella wins Covaxin fight

Covaxin was India's first indigenously developed vaccine to be approved, controversially under "clinical trial mode" in the first week of January

September 2019, months before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and all hell broke loose, a bio-safety-level (BSL) 3 facility was almost ready at Hyderabad’s Genome Valley.

Dr Jacob John, senior virologist and former head of the departments of clinical virology and microbiology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, was in Hyderabad for a meeting. “When Krishna Ella learnt that I was in the city, he invited me over to see his upcoming facility and give a talk to his team,” John recollects.

“I was surprised to see a BSL-3 facility, and asked him what his idea behind it was. Ella said