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Serum Institute starts manufacturing Codagenix's potential COVID-19 vaccine

Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pune

(Reuters) - Codagenix Inc said on Tuesday Serum Institute of India has started manufacturing the U.S. biotech firm's potential COVID-19 vaccine and it expects to begin early-stage human trial of the vaccine by the end of 2020 in the UK.

Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced, will develop Codagenix's CDX-005, which is delivered intranasally rather than via an injection.

Serum Institute is working on several vaccine candidates for the novel coronavirus - including potentially mass-producing the one from AstraZeneca-Oxford University that has garnered global headlines - as well as developing its own.

More than 150 potential vaccines are being developed and tested globally, with 38 in human trials, and candidates from Moderna Inc, Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc are already in late-stage trials.

(Reporting By Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)