Three different viruses from different countries are circulating in India whose severity is yet to be isolated, said a senior scientist from the Indian Council of Medical Research which has joined hands with country’s premier research agencies like DBT, DST and CSIR to work jointly to develop vaccine and locally made diagnostic reagent to tackle the pathogens.
The aim is to isolate the virus, said the ICMR scientist Dr. Raman R Gangakhedkar at a press briefing here.
“According to the information we have, three different viruses are being circulated since the virus that has spread in India had come here from different countries. This is likely to impact the development of vaccine", he said.
In this regard, Union Health Minister Dr Harshvardhan held a meeting with the three Secretaries of Ministry of Science & Technology about status of research into developing solutions for handling COVID-19 which has infected over 1,500 and killed over 40.
Secretary DST, Dr Ashutosh Sharma informed that through mapping of the COVID-19 related technology capabilities in start-ups, academia, R&D Labs and industry, over 500 entities in the areas of diagnostics, drugs, ventilators, protection gear, disinfecting systems, etc. have been identified.
“Over 200 proposals have been received in the last one week against the funding calls of DST, from which over 20 entities are under active consideration for support in the first phase, taking into account the relevance, cost, speed and scale of solutions to manage COVID-19,” he said.
Secretary DBT Dr. Renu Swarup said that a Consortium has been set up to support the development of medical equipments, diagnostics, therapeutics, drugs and vaccines to meet the healthcare challenges.
She stated that the manufacturing capacity of the First Indigenous kit developed by Start up in Pune is being scaled up to produce nearly one lakh kits per week. “A manufacturing facility for indigenous development of Ventilators, testing kits, imaging equipment and ultrasound and high end radiology equipment has been set up in Vishakhapatnam where manufacturing will start soon.
DBT along with Drug Controller General of India has developed and notified a Rapid Response Regulatory Framework to provide expedited regulatory approvals for all diagnostics drugs and vaccines. Vaccine development is being supported with three Indian industries. Research on Therapeutic and drug development has started.
Similarly, the CSIR is working on a five-pronged strategy to find S&T solutions for COVID-19, comprising of: Surveillance using digital and molecular methods which includes genome sequencing of the virus strains across the country; Cheaper, fast and accurate diagnosis methods; intervention strategies comprising of repurposing drugs and developing new drugs etc.; R&D in Hospital assistive equipment; and, development of Supply chain logistics models for items required for Covid-19 mitigation, said DG, CSIR Dr. Shekhar Mande.
