Guwahati/Ahmedabad [India], April 29 (ANI): Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati is collaborating with Hester BiosciencesĀ Ltd to work on vaccine development against COVID-19, both organisations said on Wednesday. IIT GuwahatiĀ and Hester expect the vaccine to be ready by the year-end to start animal studies. The work is currently in its early stage of development.
āThe vaccine will be based on recombinant avian paramyxovirus based vector platform,ā they said in a statement. Rajiv Gandhi, Managing Director and CEO of Hester BiosciencesĀ said that in the current pandemic situation of COVID-19, the world is looking at developing preventive and curative measuresĀ to safeguard mankind.
āIIT GuwahatiĀ and Hester have collaborated to develop and manufacture a recombinant vaccineĀ against COVID-19 disease as a preventive measure. Hesterās involvement will be from master seed development up to release of the commercial vaccine,ā he said.
Gandhi said Hester has 23 years of experience in vaccine manufacturing on the veterinary side. āThe company has a fairly good understanding and the capability to get into human vaccines, specifically into a vaccine against the COVID-19 disease,ā he said.
Sachin Kumar, Associate Professor at IIT GuwahatiĀ ās Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering said it is too early to comment on the efficacy and immunogenicity of the vaccine. āHowever, we will be able to reveal more details about this vaccine after the results of animal studies are obtained,ā he said. (ANI)Ā
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