Hyderabad based Bharat Tech has collaborated with Thomas Jefferson University to come up with a vaccine for COVID-19. Jefferson University has invented its own vaccine candidate and this has shown positive results towards mice. Scientists at present are trying to figure out if the vaccinated animals are immune to the SARS-CoV2 infection and they will soon come up with the results. The University is already working together with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to devise an indigenous vaccine for coronavirus victims.
The recently developed vaccine is a part of an existing deactivated rabies vaccine that proved to be effective for all coronavirus patients, including children and pregnant women. Infectious diseases expert Professor Matthias Schnell invented the vaccine during January and initially experimented this on animals and mice gave a strong antibody response towards his vaccine.
Prof. Schnell asserted, “Our partnership with Bharat Biotech will accelerate our vaccine candidate through the next phases of development”.
Further, he said that they would complete animal testing and shift to phase 1 clinical trial as quickly as they can.
The CEO of Bharat Biotech Dr Krishna Mohan reported, “In view of the imminent demand for an effective vaccine, Bharat Biotech is pleased to collaborate with Thomas Jefferson, USA towards developing a new vaccine for COVID-19 using an inactivated rabies vector platform. We are particularly excited about this basic technology since the basic proof of concept has been established while using it for other pandemic infectious diseases. Bharat Biotech is committed to global public health and will be involved in an end to end development of the vaccine including comprehensive clinical trials to achieve commercial licensure”.
The accorded license provides Bharat Biotech with the rights to develop, market and deliver the vaccine globally excluding USA, Europe, Japan and other countries where Jefferson is looking for coordinators. With the assistance of the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, Bharat Biotech is determined enough to conduct human trials by December 2020.
Prof Schnell stated, “Since we know the immune system reacts to the rabies vaccine with a strong response when we add the coronavirus component, we expect to see that level of protection and immune memory, carry over to the SARS-CoV2 viral protein as well”.
The Indian Biotechnology company has also joined hands with the University of Wisconsin, Madison and FluGen, one of the leading vaccine producers and are heading towards making of a distinctive COVID-19 vaccine called “CoroFlu”, a one- drop nasal vaccine proved safe in humans.
