“Antisera” have not yet been subjected to human clinical trials to establish their safety. (Representative)
New Delhi:
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), together with a Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical company, has developed ‘highly purified antisera’ prepared by injecting inactivated SARS-CoV2 into horses, which may be a potential treatment for the COVID-19.
“ICMR and Biological E Limited, Hyderabad, have developed highly purified antisera (raised in animals) for the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19,” the leading health research organization said Thursday.
The “antisera” have not yet been subjected to clinical trials in humans to establish their safety and efficacy and India’s Comptroller General of Drugs would soon be contacted in this regard, Dr Samiran Panda, responsible for epidemiology and communicable diseases at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
Antisera are blood serum rich in antibodies against specific antigens and are injected into humans to help jump-start the immune system to fight specific infections.
The pre-printed version of the study on the development of equine antisera has been published on the Research Square platform.
“The study provides evidence for the potential for generating highly purified F (ab ‘) 2 from equines against SARS-CoV-2 which may demonstrate consistent and high neutralization activity. In addition, in vivo testing for the efficacy of this locally developed and cost effective product The product will pave the way for clinical evaluation. In addition, being a donor independent method, it may prove to be an effective alternative to convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID- patients. 19 ”, states the study document.
Previously, such measures were used to control several viral and bacterial infections.
“Although plasma collected from patients with COVID-19 may serve a similar purpose, the antibody profile, efficacy and concentration continue to vary from patient to patient and therefore make it an unreliable clinical tool for patient management, “ICMR said in a tweet.
“The standardization achievable through the equine serum-based treatment modality thus stands out as another remarkable public health initiative supported by ICMR during the COVID-19 era,” he said.
As part of the study, 10 healthy horses were immunized with the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus and after 21 days of immunization plasma samples were tested.
The results of the plasma samples indicated the presence of specific IgG antibodies to SARS-Co-V2 detected by ELISA with neutralization capacity.
The study has not yet been peer reviewed.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
