University of Hyderabad, CCMB, Vins Bioproducts team up for Covid-19 therapy

University of Hyderabad (UoH) and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology have tied up with Vins Bioproducts Ltd to develop antibody fragment-based immunotherapy for treatment for Covid-19 pandemic.

This collaborative effort plans to use the F(ab’)2 platform technology which has been providing neutralising antibodies from horses for a variety of life-threatening pathologies in humans as anti-venoms, anti-toxins and anti-virals.

Horse-based immunoglobulin can be produced in large quantities as a promising alternative therapy, which would be economical and can be made readily available to a larger population.

The use of antibodies has been an effective method in protecting against several human and animal diseases. Although plasma-based passive immunity against Covid-19 has been reported to be working well in clinical trials, it has several theoretical and practical concerns including limitation in the availability of human plasma samples.

“I hope this would result in a successful development of antibody fragment-based immunotherapy for immediate treatment for Covid-19 pandemic,’’ Appa Rao Podile, Vice-Chancellor, UoH, said in a release.

Siddharth Daga, CEO of Vins Bioproducts Ltd, expressed his confidence in the fast track development by complimenting the technical and infrastructural strengths available in the three collaborating organisations.