Benzinga | Mar 30, 2021 09:17AM EDT

India Extends Shelf Life For AstraZeneca COVID-19 Jab To Nine Months: Reuters

India's drug regulator has allowed AstraZeneca Plc's (NASDAQ: AZN) COVID-19 vaccine to be used for up to nine months from its manufacture date, versus the prescribed six months, according to a document reviewed by Reuters and a source.

* The approval is expected to minimize vaccine wastage and better plan the inoculation programs.

* Some Africa can use up more than a million doses of the branded Covishield vaccine by Serum Institute Of India by mid-next month if the shelf life is not extended.

* "You are permitted to apply the shelf-life of nine months to unlabeled vials available on hand," India's drug controller-general, V.G. Somani, wrote late last month in reply to a request from the Serum Institute Of India.

* AstraZeneca said that its shot could be stored, transported, and handled at normal refrigerated conditions for at least six months.

* The World Health Organization website also gives the shelf-life of Covishield and the South Korean-made AstraZeneca shot as six months.

* Each vial typically contains 5 milliliters of vaccine or ten doses.

* The source did not specify what kind of data was shared by the company.

* Somani, Serum Institute Of India, and AstraZeneca did not immediately respond.

* Price Action: AZN shares are down 1.34% at $50.13 in premarket trading on the last check Tuesday.