Covid-19: ICMR teams up with Bharat Biotech to develop vaccine against indigenous coronavirus

More than 40 vaccine candidates are currently at various stages of development worldwide to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. (AP)

Days after Israel announced a breakthrough Regarding a Covid-19 vaccine, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) announced on Saturday a link with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop a fully indigenous vaccine using the virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology ( NIV)), Pune.

“Work on vaccine development started between the two partners. ICMR-NIV will provide ongoing support to BBIL for vaccine development. ICMR and BBIL will seek rapid approvals to accelerate vaccine development, subsequent animal studies and clinical evaluation of the candidate vaccine, “health research agency apex said in a statement.

The strain was successfully transferred from NIV to BBIL, he added.

More than 40 candidate vaccines are currently in various stages. of development worldwide to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In India, the new coronavirus has so far claimed 1,981 lives in the country as the total number of cases near the 60,000 mark.

Recently, Oxford University announced that researchers there had started try a vaccine against the new coronavirus disease. The Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturers, is a partner in vaccine production in preparation for trials.

Until the Oxford announcement, one of the most promising candidates was believed to be one developed by Moderna, a biotechnology company, which is now in phase I clinical trials under the auspices of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). . USA

Vaccines are important because they save a lot of resources to prevent diseases and not have to treat them. Vaccines have been key to eliminating diseases that were once feared, such as smallpox.

Biotech firm CanSino Biologics, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is testing another candidate vaccine. Having started after the NIH trials, the company announced last week that the phase I trials had been approved and that the vaccine was going into phase II of the trial “based on preliminary safety data from the phase clinical trial I “. The results of that trial have not been made public.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For the latest news from India, download the Indian Express app.

© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd