Indian firm developing vaccine for Zika virus

At a time when worldwide companies are still involved in the initial research on the virus, Bharat Biotech global Limited in Hyderabad says it has patented the Zika vaccine.

Assoc Prof Hayball said Zika virus, for which there is now no treatment, had caught the world “flat footed”.

However, the vaccine candidates are yet to be proved efficacious and safe in clinical trials as well. We have two Zikavac vaccine candidates in development; one is a recombinant vaccine and another an inactivated vaccine that has reached the stage of pre-clinical testing in animals, said Dr Krishna Ella.

The virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito, which is also known to transmit infections such as dengue and chikungunya.

The World Health Organization has declared an global health emergency over Zika, saying it was “strongly suspected” to be linked to a large number of babies born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads. Public health officials recommend avoiding exposure to Zika, delaying pregnancy, and following basic supportive care after infection. No vaccine has been developed so far.

He is all set to seek Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direct intervention to expedite the process of fast tracking the vaccine’s development and delivery by skipping regulatory clearances to get the vaccine to the countries that need help including Brazil, where the epidemic first broke.

“One of these is definitely an inactivated vaccine that’s attained the phase of preclinical screening in creatures”, Ella said.

Robert McNally, PhD, GeoVax’s President and CEO, commented, “We believe our MVA-VLP vaccine platform is uniquely suited to apply to the Zika virus”.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, director general of ICMR told NDTV, “We have just been informed about the Zika vaccine candidate that Bharat Biotech has”.

On Tuesday, French drugmaker Sanofi SA also announced that it has launched a project to develop a vaccine against the virus, the most decisive commitment yet by a major vaccine maker. Its rapidly expanding research enterprise addresses infectious disease threats worldwide by developing successful countermeasures including vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics, through its partnerships with industry.