In a step towards strengthening collaboration on tackling Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday announced a virtual UK-India vaccines hub which will see authorities from India and the UK joining forces to provide vaccines for coronavirus and other deadly viruses.
“Scientific cooperation has made breakthroughs on coronavirus vaccines at record-breaking pace and the UK-India vaccine hub will now build on these innovations, to bring this crisis to an end and protect us all against future pandemics,” mentioned Raab who met with Modi to signal a closer UK-India partnership by way of a 10-year roadmap and enhanced trade partnership.
The vaccines hub is aimed to allow British and Indian authorities to share know-how and most effective practices on clinical trials and regulatory approvals and boost cooperation on improvement and distribution of coronavirus vaccines. The hub will also construct partnerships to create innovation ‘moonshots’ that can define vaccine delivery more than the subsequent decade and beyond.
With India currently supplying 25% of UK’s National Health Service’s generic drugs, closer UK-India cooperation on medicines and vaccines approvals will assure speedy access for the UK to Indian-made pharmaceuticals and assistance safeguard future supplies to the NHS.
In yet another new agreement involving India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation and the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the two agencies decided on more frequent discussions on UK-India vaccine and pharmaceutical regulations, enhancing requirements and sharing information and facts to manage against the trade of unlicensed merchandise.