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Delay in 'Made in India' chikungunya vaccine, researchers seek government intervention

India offers a rare ray of hope for an indigenously-made vaccine against chikungunya, but delay in finding volunteers is impeding its development. 

With chikungunya spreading very fast in the country, researchers are seeking urgent government intervention for speedy completion of the vital clinical trials. 

Chikungunya is a dreaded infection transmitted through the bite of the mosquito. There is no known cure and till date, there is no vaccine anywhere in the world again .. 

The novel vaccine candidate against chikungunya crossed a big hurdle last year when Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based vaccine pioneer, got permission to start human trials and the first human subjects received the vaccine a few months ago. 

The company says the phase-I trials will "evaluate the vaccine's safety, tolerability and immunogenicity. The placebo controlled study involving 60 healthy volunteers would test escalating doses of the vaccine in prime-boost regimen". 

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