Our scientists are working on a multi-purpose antidote. This highlights the need to fund R&D in a post-COVID world
As ever-increasing numbers of people test positive for Coronavirus daily, Indian scientists, medical professionals and researchers are toiling round-the-clock to create a vaccine to treat and cure people. Researchers at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) believe that they may be on the threshold of a watershed moment in the fight against the Novel Coronavirus. The scientists are testing a multi-purpose vaccine that has in the past proven to be effective against leprosy and which boosts immunity, too. Having received the approval of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the MW Vaccine is now being tested. Work is going on in developing the RNA and recombinant DNA vaccines. CSIR is also working towards synthesising the drug Favipiravir that is currently under trial in Japan. Two more approvals are awaited and once these are secured, trials will begin. However, the process of making a vaccine is a lengthy one as it is done in multiple stages till it reaches human trials. Once it proves successful in multiple human trials, it will take months for enough vaccines to be created and an even longer time before they hit the market. The timeline given by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the development of any vaccine meant to specifically tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is 12 months or maybe even longer. Meanwhile, a desperate race is on, not just in India but also in the US and China, to come up with a cure in the form of a vaccine or drug but no definitive results have been shared with the world as yet. In a bid to understand the way the virus functions, Indian scientists are working on its genome sequencing which should help understand and trace its place of origin and the path through which it spreads. They also aim to understand with the help of genome sequencing whether or not the virus is mutating and developing any form of resistance to the drugs being used against it.
What is foxing the scientific community is the fact that there are around six to seven strains (of the Coronavirus) in the world. It is simply too early to accurately determine just how many strains may be present in the country and scientists are racing against time. They are only too aware that each day that passes brings with it an increasing number of cases, making it that much harder for a nation already suffering from an economic slowdown to go about its business as usual. As the COVID bomb continues to tick, Pune’s National Institute of Virology has completed 25 sequencings and the CSIR 30. The aim is to complete between 500 to 1,000 genetic sequencings in the next two weeks. This race against time is also a pointer on why we need to prioritise R&D, give adequate grants to the sector, incentivise our scholars and disseminate their findings widely. If home-grown scientists are working with the world now, it is clear that there is no dearth of talent and innovation. As we have said before, health and education budgets in a post-COVID world will be the real deal.