IISc oxygen concentrator being validated, says sudhakar 

BENGALURU: The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed an oxygen concentrator of 10 LPM capacity which is being tested for clinical validation at Bangalore Medical College and also a Covid vaccine, said Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar, who interacted with IISc Director Prof Govindan Rangarajan on Thursday.

Prof Rangarajan said the results are promising and claimed that the oxygen output is about 90 per cent and hence more efficient as compared to Chinese concentrators whose output is about 40-50%. He sought the support of Sudhakar to expedite the process of clinical validation and to get regulatory approvals from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for emergency use. Sudhakar assured Prof Rangarajan of all necessary support and said he will take up the matter with RGUHS Vice-Chancellor and concerned Union Ministers.

“The vaccine being developed by IISc is promising as the results show a better neutralising effect than the existing vaccines. This vaccine, which is yet to begin human trials, could be a big breakthrough as the vaccine can be stored at room temperature. This enables the government to scale up distribution in a faster and easier way,” Sudhakar said.

Raghavan Varadarajan, professor of Molecular Biophysics Unit, IISc, said the vaccine is made of a protein subunit, which refers to a part of the surface protein of the coronavirus and no other components.“We still have to do the process development, safety and toxicity studies. The trials will begin after six to eight months,” he said.