THD NewsDesk, New Delhi: According to a report by the National Institute of Immunology on September 11, there has been encouraging results of an immunogenicity study conducted on mice. This immunogenicity study trial on mice was conducted in July.
The NII, an institute under the Department of Biotechnology, has started an endeavor to develop a protein-based vaccine candidate for coronavirus.
NII’s vaccine candidate is one of the many being developed indigenously.
NII director Amulya Panda said on Friday,
“The preliminary results of the immunogenicity study trials done on mice have shown positive results. We found it to be highly immunogenic, neutralizing and it produced antibodies.”
He also added that more tests need to be done on mice on a larger scale now and it is expected to start next week. Moreover, he also said,
“We are also working to see how good it is at neutralizing (the coronavirus) in humans. Further, we plan to do it (test) in monkeys to get more solid data,” he said, adding that clearances have to be taken to conduct such tests on primates.”
In the past, the NII had successfully developed a vaccine against leprosy which is already in the market. It is also working on a cancer vaccine which is in phase 3 trial.
Two other indigenous vaccine candidates which have completed phase 1 of human trials and have moved to phase 2 are:
- Zydus Cadila
- Bharat Biotech
The Serum Institute of India (SII) on Thursday announced that it has paused clinical trials of AstraZeneca Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the country. Earlier this week it has been announced that they have done so because of ”an unexplained illness” in a participant in the study.
The Drugs Controller General of India had issued a show-cause notice to the SII for not informing it about AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate for COVID-19 in other countries and also for not submitting a casualty analysis of the “reported serious adverse events”.