Indigenous players on a slow and steady coronavirus vaccine race

Smaller players are bullish on playing crucial role in nation's vaccine infrastructure

While leading vaccine candidates are in advanced stages of clinical trials, a handful of indigenous players, too, is progressing slowly, albeit steadily.

Not only do these players feel there will be room for multiple Covid-19 vaccines in the market, but they may also play a crucial role in scaling up national production of the successful candidate.

The country’s largest veterinary vaccine maker Hester Biosciences, for example, is foraying into the animal vaccine space with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. It is developing the vaccine in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Guwahati.

The vaccine will be based on an avian