On May 8, 2020, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under its flagship programme NMITLI announced it had sanctioned a project to develop human monoclonal antibodies as therapy for COVID-19 infections.

The project is being led by Bharat Biotech, a leading manufacturer of vaccines and bio-therapeutics as well as supplier of products to over 65 countries in the world. This programme brings together academia – National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune and Indian Institute of Technology, Indore and industry – PredOmix Technologies, Gurgaon and Bharat Biotech in a collaborative mode for a public health emergency.

Although efforts are underway for the development of drugs and vaccines for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, these are slow and expensive processes with uncertainties. Therefore, an alternate therapeutic regimen for early deployment is critical.

The present project aims at such an alternate therapeutic regimen by generating highly effective and specific human monoclonal antibodies that are capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV2 virus. Such virus-neutralizing antibodies can block the spread of infection by binding to the virus and rendering it ineffective. Monoclonal antibody therapy is a highly effective and safe method.

Bharat Biotech has excelled in identifying potential viral threats, and have successfully developed 10 different Viral vaccines. As a Pandemic Vaccines frontrunner, the company has delivered more than 5 billion doses of viral vaccines including Anti Rabies vaccines