Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in collaboration with VINCOV-19, developed the first antidote against COVID-19 and have successfully completed the Phase 2 clinical trials across multiple centres in India.
UoH and CCMB alongside VINS Bioproducts Limited, a leading immunological company, based in Hyderabad developed VINCOV-19, now ready for market authorization and for simultaneous Phase 3 clinical trials.
Phase 2 clinical trials were conducted across multiple centres in India and included over 200 patients which included testing the antidote against the Omicron variant to ensure maximum coverage against the virus and its known mutations.
In this phase, VINCOV-19 was administered to patients with moderate severity of COVID-19. One group of patients was given VINCOV-19, along with Standard of Care (SoC), and another group was given Standard of Care (SoC) only. VINCOV-19 showed an excellent safety profile in the trials. There was a good and early improvement in the clinical condition of the patients administered VINCOV-19.
VINCOV-19 contains Equine polyclonal antibodies (EpAbs) against the COVID-19 virus. VINCOV-19 comprises highly purified F(ab’)2 antibody fragments that have a high neutralizing capacity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Since neutralizing antibodies could block the internalization of SARS-CoV-2 to lung cells, it was postulated that their passive administration should render maximal clinical benefits if they are applied at the early stages of the disease.
Vice-Chancellor, UoH, Prof. B J Rao, also congratulated the team members for their efforts in successfully completing Phase 2 trials for VINCOV-19. He expressed happiness at this academia and industry collaboration with complementing technical and infrastructural strengths available in the three partnering organisations yielding fruitful results in less than a year.
The team led by Dr Krishnan H Harshan at CCMB isolated SARS-CoV-2 in April 2020, which led to this successful collaboration.
The development of VINCOV-19 was developed through a collaborative effort between the CCMB helped develop the viral antigen; UoH helped with product characterization; and VINS Bioproducts Limited which managed the equine immunization and clinical development in their state-of-art manufacturing plant in Telangana.
