While India makes three-fifths of the world’s vaccines, most of them are under licence rather than products of indigenous research. For example, Covidhsiels was manufactured by Serum Institute but developed by Oxford University.

However, the pandemic has rejuvenated Indian research — Covaxin produced by Bharat Biotech came out of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). And now, a new vaccine candidate from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)’s spin-out Mynvax could be another game-changer.

Mynvax is a thermostable or warm vaccine, which means it does not require cold storage facilities, a rarity in the majority of underdeveloped countries. The vaccine candidate recently completed animal trials and is set to move to the first phase of human trials.

AUSSIE RESEARCHERS FIND MYNVAX PROMISING

Australia’s national science agency CSIRO has shown that Mynvax formulations can neutralise all variants of concern of the novel coronavirus to date. The vaccine can withstand temperatures of upto 100 degree Celsius for 90 minutes and 37 degrees Celsius for four weeks, claim the makers.

CSIRO’s COVID-19 Science Leader Professor Seshadri Vasan, said, “We tested sera from mice vaccinated with six different Mynvax formulations, in terms of their ability to neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Our study showed that the antibodies, especially in response to the monomeric formulations, neutralised Delta and Omicron (BA.1.1).”