PUNE: A candidate vaccine is ready for pre-clinical trials, and possibly even human trials within six months, as part of a collaboration between Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and American biotechnology firm Codagenix to develop a preventive vaccine against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
While efforts to find a coronavirus vaccine have already started globally, the SII-Codagenix candidate vaccine, developed using a laboratory-made synthetic virus, is an important breakthrough because it could significantly reduce the time taken to build a shield against the virus at the heart of the current outbreak emanating from China.
“Conventional approaches usually take seven to eight years to fully develop a vaccine for use. We have already marched ahead by generating a candidate vaccine in the laboratory of our US-based partner Codagenix. Our vaccine-virus strain is identical to the original virus and can generate a robust immune response,” industrialist Adar Poonawalla, owner and CEO of SII, told TOI in an exclusive interview on Monday.
While efforts to find a coronavirus vaccine have already started globally, the SII-Codagenix candidate vaccine, developed using a laboratory-made synthetic virus, is an important breakthrough because it could significantly reduce the time taken to build a shield against the virus at the heart of the current outbreak emanating from China.
“Conventional approaches usually take seven to eight years to fully develop a vaccine for use. We have already marched ahead by generating a candidate vaccine in the laboratory of our US-based partner Codagenix. Our vaccine-virus strain is identical to the original virus and can generate a robust immune response,” industrialist Adar Poonawalla, owner and CEO of SII, told TOI in an exclusive interview on Monday.
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