Hyderabad based firm to lead research collaboration to develop vaccine for COVID-19

Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a vaccines manufacturing company, has announced that it is set to commence research for developing a vaccine for COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of 124 people in the country.

According to an official statement, IIL has entered into an agreement with the Griffith University of Australia for collaboration to conduct exploratory research to develop a vaccine candidate.

"IIL is committed to addressing critical public health needs by engaging in this research collaboration. The mission at IIL is to develop and supply vaccines that support the One Health initiative. IIL has taken up this initiative to develop a vaccine candidate for the pandemic - COVID-19. IIL's leadership in producing safe and affordable human and veterinary vaccines will enable us to progress well in this endeavor," IIL MD Dr K Anand Kumar said.

The statement said that scientists from IIL and Griffith University (Australia) will develop a 'Live Attenuated SARS - CoV-2 vaccine' or COVID-19 vaccine using the latest codon de-optimization technology.

"Our live-attenuated vaccine will be developed using codon de-optimization technology and is expected to provide long-lasting immunity against SARS - CoV-2 following a single immunization and cross-protection against other coronaviruses," said Professor Suresh Mahalingam, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Australia on the research collaboration.

Mahalingam said that as this vaccine will be a live attenuated vaccine it is expected to be highly effective by providing very strong cellular and antibody immune responses against the virus.

"The vaccine is expected to provide long-lasting protection with a single dose administration with an anticipated safety profile similar to other licensed vaccines for active immunization," the statement said.

It said that the IIL intends to use its existing Vero cell platform technology for mass production of the virus.