The Union govt recently announced the setting up of another Central Drug Laboratory (CDL) to test and approve vaccines being manufactured in the country.The Union Ministry of Health said that the Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB) in Hyderabad has been selected as the CDL.A meeting was held in November last year under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary on the selection of a laboratory for CDL to test and approve the vaccines being manufactured in the country.
As part of this, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) referred two laboratories to the Union govt.
These include the National Center for Cell Sciences (NCCS) in Pune and the Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB) in Hyderabad.NCCS was declared a CDL on June 28 this year, and NIAB was recently declared as a CDL.These are funded by PM Cares.
Each batch of vaccines manufactured must be tested at these centres and certified to meet the standards.
To date, the release of vaccine batches has been delayed due to a lack of adequate testing centres.In the past, Minister KTR has asked the Union govt to set up a vaccine test centre in Hyderabad to reduce the approval time.
