Govt. seeks proposals on Covid-19 vaccine development, diagnostics

New Delhi, April 20 (IANS): The Department of Biotechnology and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council have invited applications on the Covid-19 Research Consortium.

The first phase of the call ended on March 30 and around 500 applications were received from academia and industry. The multi-tiered review process is ongoing and for receiving funding support.

A multifaceted approach is being adopted to ensure that vaccine candidates utilizing different platforms and at different stages of development are fast-tracked through this Research Consortium under funding from the National Biopharma Mission.

Both repurposings of existing vaccine candidates for immediate protection of ‘high-risk groups’ and novel vaccine candidate development were considered while selecting proposals under this call.

Funding support has been recommended to Cadila Healthcare Limited for advancing the development of a DNA Vaccine candidate against Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and to Bharat Biotech International Ltd for Covid-19 vaccine candidate utilising the inactivated rabies vector platform.

Furthermore, for the Phase III human clinical trials study of recombinant BCG vaccine planned in high-risk populations, the Serum Institute of India Private Ltd will receive support.

Development of a novel vaccine evaluation platform at National Institute of Immunology to support SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development has also been approved for financial support.

Production of purified immunoglobulin G, IgG, at commercial scale from Covid-19 convalescent sera and production of high titers of equine hyperimmune globulin for the treatment of Covid-19 infected patients on a large scale will be supported at Virchow Biotech Pvt Ltd.

Financial support to OncoSeek Bio Private Limited will be provided to create an in vitro Lung Organoid model.

To boost indigenous production and to scale-up the production of molecular and rapid diagnostic tests following companies will receive financial support: Mylab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd, Huwel Lifesciences, Ubio Biotechnology Systems Pvt Ltd, Dhiti Life Sciences Pvt Ltd, MagGenome Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bigtec Pvt Ltd and Yaathum Biotech Pvt Ltd.

Commonly shared facility to manufacture diagnostic kits and ventilators will be established at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) under the National Biopharma Mission of the DBT to provide scale up production capacity to different manufacturers.

Development and deployment of contactless, affordable thermopile based ultrasonic sensors for the screening of Covid-19 suspects and indigenous production of novel PPE for healthcare professionals will also be supported.