Mumbai Co Working on Equine Serum

Bharat Serums and Vaccines has begun preclinical work for developing a possible treatment for COVID-19 using antibodies from horses – a path way that premier medical research is looking to develop.
“Clinical safety of equine immunoglobulins through consistent quality and safety of our equine products over the past two decades has given us the confidence to take up this project,” said Sanjiv Navangul, MD of Bharat Serums.
The equine antisera pathway with which the Mumbai-based company is working is already used in treatments against snake bites, rabies and diphtheria.
Antiserum is a blood serum that contains antibodies against a virus that can be injected to prevent or treat an infection.
“With millions of dose of equine immunoglobulin products manufactured thus far, we would like to develop a viable therapeutic option for Covid infection in shortest possible time, “Navangul said.
Bharat Serums has also applied for ICMR’s application call for vaccine makers to develop and scale up the antigen isolated by National Institute of Virology, Pune, using the equine sera against SARS-Cov2. The equine serum is considered a viable option to produce antigens as antibodies against the targeted toxin.
It was also studied in laboratories as a treatment option in other coronavirus such as SARS and MERS where there were indications of reduced viral count.

Source : timesgroup.com