ICMR Develops Antibody Treatment For Coronavirus From Horses

New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed an ‘antisera’ for the treatment of coronavirus. It has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for clinical trials. The antisera has been developed by injecting the SARS-CoV-2 in horses, India Today reported.

The antisera developed by ICMR and Hyderabad-based biopharmaceutical firm Biological E Ltd is an antibody treatment against Covid-19.

What is antisera?

Antisera are blood serum high in antibodies against specific antigens and are injected in humans to help kickstart the immune system to fight specific infections.

How it works

The therapy works on the same pattern as plasma therapy. However, in this case, the blood plasma will be obtained from horses.

The horses that have recovered from the viral infection after they were injected with SARS-CoV-2 and were found to have antibodies against the virus, will be used for the treatment. Antibodies from horses, known as equine antisera, are quite common, the report added.

“With Biological E Limited we have developed a horse antisera and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that,” ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava was quoted as saying at a press briefing on Tuesday by India Today.

The ‘antisera’ is yet to undergo human clinical trials to establish safety and efficacy.

Antisera are blood serum high in antibodies against specific antigens and are injected in humans to help kickstart the immune system to fight specific infections.