'Warm' Covid-19 vaccine effective against all major variants of concern: Study

A heattolerant Covid19 vaccine formulation developed by the Indian Institute of Science IISc Bengaluru has proven effective against all current SARSCoV2 variants of concern according to a study in animalsThe research published in the ACS Infectious Diseases journal on Thursday showed the vaccine formulations by IIScincubated biotech startup Mynvax triggered a strong immune response in miceThe formulation also protected hamsters from the virus and remained stable at 37 degrees Celsius up to a month and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes the researchers saidThe team including researchers from Australias Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation CSIRO noted that most vaccines require refrigeration to remain effectiveFor example the OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine known as Covishield in India must be kept between 28 degrees Celsius and the Pfizer preventive requires specialised cold storage at minus 70 degrees CelsiusThe researchers assessed vaccinated mice sera blood samples for efficacy against key coronavirus variants including the Delta variant currently spreading globallyAccording to S S Vasan CSIROs Covid19 project leader and coauthor of the study the Mynvaxvaccinated mice sera show a strong response to all variants of the live virusOur data shows that all formulations of Mynvax tested result in antibodies capable of consistent and effective neutralisation of the Alpha Beta Gamma and Delta SARSCoV2 variants of concern Vasan saidThe IIScMynvax vaccine uses a part of the viral spike protein called the receptorbinding domain RBD that allows the virus to connect with the host cell to infect itThe preventive differs from other vaccine as it only uses a specific part of the RBD a string of 200 amino acids instead of the entire spike proteinCSIROs evaluation of the different Mynvax formulations will support selection of the most suitable candidate for planned human clinical trials in India later this yearThe institute has previously conducting preclinical evaluation of two Covid19 vaccines including the OxfordAstraZeneca preventive said CSIROs Health and Biosecurity Director Rob GrenfellA thermostable or warm vaccine is critical for remote or resourcelimited locations with extremely hot climates which lack reliable cold storage supply chains including regional communities in Australias outback and the IndoPacific region Grenfall saidIn addition to IISc and CSIRO the study included researchers from the University of York in the UK CSIRInstitute of Genomics and Integrative Biology CSIRIGIB New Delhi Translational Health Science and Technology Institute Faridabad and CSIRInstitute of Microbial Technology ChandigarhThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever