Antibodies Treatment For COVID-19 Developed From Horses By ICMR Gets Approval For Human Trials

One possible candidate among scores of others when it comes to a cure for coronavirus is the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-made 'antisera.' It has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for clinical trials, reported Economic Times.

The antisera has been developed by injecting the SARS-CoV-2 in animals.

Also read: 105-Year-Old Woman In Karnataka Beat Coronavirus After Undergoing Treatment At Home

The Chronicle of the Horse (Representational Image)

It was developed by ICMR and Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical firm Biological E Ltd, and is an antibody treatment against the novel coronavirus. It has been developed by injecting inactivated COVID-19 virus in horses.

The treatment works in a similar way like the plasma therapy. However, in this case, the blood plasma will be taken from horses. The horses that have recovered from the viral infection after they were injected with SARS-CoV-2 and were found to have antibodies against the virus will be the ones used for the therapy.

It is a common practice to take antibodies from horses, which are known as equine antisera.

Also read: Hyderabad: Volunteers Line Up For Human Trials Of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine 'Covishield'

ET (Representational Image)

"With Biological E Limited we have developed an horse antisera and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that," ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said at press briefing on Tuesday.

However, the 'antisera' is yet to have human clinical trials to clear it for safety and efficacy.

Antisera are high in antibodies against specific antigens. They are injected in human beings to improve the immune system and kickstart it to fight a certain infection.

In a tweet, the ICMR wrote, 'The ICMR and Biological E Limited, Hyderabad, have developed highly purified antisera (raised in animals) for prophylaxis and treatment of Covid-19. Such measures have previously been used in medical science to control many viral and bacterial infections such as Rabies, Hepatitis B, Vaccinia virus, Tetanus, Botulism and Diphtheria.'

Also read: ICMR Says COVID-19 Vaccine Likely To Have 50-100% Efficacy

(1/4) ICMR and Biological E. Limited, Hyderabad have developed highly purified antisera (raised in animals) for prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19.

¡ª ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) October 1, 2020

It added, 'Although, plasma recovered from patients experiencing Covid-19 could serve similar purpose, the profile of antibodies, their efficacy and concentration keep varying from one patient to another and therefore, make it an unreliable clinical tool for patient management'.

It also said, 'Standardisation achievable through equine sera based treatment modality thus stands out as yet another remarkable public health initiative supported by ICMR in the time of COVID-19'.

The study involved 10 healthy horses to be immunised with inactivated SARS-CoV-2 and after 21 days of immunisation their plasma samples were tested. The results showed the plasma samples had SARS-CoV-2 specific lgG antibodies as detected in ELISA with neutralising capacity.