ICMR, National Institute Of Virology Join Hands With Hyderabad Based Biotech Firm To Develop COVID-19 Vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Pune based National Institute of Virology (NIV) have joined forces with leading vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop an indigenous vaccine effective against COVID-19 disease, reports Times of India.

The combine would together use the strain of COVID-19 virus which was successfully isolated by NIV. The strain has already been transferred from NIV to BBIL's facility in Hyderabad which is the only company in the developing world to boast of having a biosafety level-3.

BBIL is known for having developed 10 different viral vaccines and has in the past delivered over five billion doses of these.

Recently, BBIL has also received the approval from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to develop human monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 which would facilitate therapeutic treatment of COVID-19 wherein the antibodies developed would bind themselves to the virus cells and neutralise them.

BBIL's chairman and managing director Dr Krishna Ella has expressed pride in the company's partnership with ICMR and NIV in this project of national importance and said, "We will do everything to make this programme successful in our national endeavour to combat COVID-19 pandemic."