GEMCOVAC-OM - SCI & TECH
News:
Regulator approves first Omicron-specific mRNA vaccine from India
What's in the news?
● India’s
first indigenous mRNA vaccine for the Omicron variant, GEMCOVAC-OM, developed
by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd, was approved under emergency use
guidelines by the Drug Controller General of India.
Key takeaways:
● This
comes a year after the company got approval for GEMCOVAC-19, the country’s
first m-RNA vaccine against COVID-19.
GEMCOVAC-OM:
● GEMCOVAC-OM
is an Omicron-specific mRNA-based
Booster vaccine developed using the indigenous platform technology by
Gennova in collaboration with DBT.
Developed by:
● Pune-based
Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
Features:
● Like
the prototype vaccine, GEMCOVAC-OM is a thermostable
vaccine, which does not require ultra-cold chain infrastructure used for
other approved mRNA-based vaccines, making it easy for deployment pan India.
● The
vaccine is a lyophilized (freeze dried)
vaccine, stable at two to eight degrees Centigrade.
● It
is delivered intradermally (via skin)
using a needle-free injection device system (Pharma Jet System).
mRNA vaccines:
● The
mRNA vaccines use mRNA’s function as a protein
information carrier to prompt the body to make specific proteins.
○ In
the case of COVID-19 vaccines, the mRNA instructs the cells to produce the
spike protein found on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
● When
the body’s immune system detects these foreign proteins, it produces antibodies
and other immune cells to fight what looks like an infection.
● Then,
if the immune system encounters that protein again in the future, it’s primed
to mount a rapid response.