BSVL working on polyclonal antibody for Covid treatment

Mumbai-based Biotech firm Bharat Serums and Vaccines (BSVL) is working on developing an in-house polyclonal antibody product for the treatment of Covid-19.

If the trials are successful, it would be the first such indigenously developed polyclonal antibodies product in India.

Sanjiv Navangul, managing director and chief executive of BSVL, said the spike protein of Sars-cov-2 is used to develop antibody titers which are then extracted and purified to create the product. “We have done some neutralisation trials in the laboratory in India, and some studies in the US as well. We got excellent results,” Navangul said.

Human clinical trials are yet to begin here.

Human bodies create proteins called antibodies to fight infections. Monoclonal antibodies are artificial antibodies that mimic the activity of the immune system. They are laboratory-produced through a process of extraction of antibodies from human blood or serum and then cloning them.

These are highly purified and concentrated forms of antibodies, which are now actively used in Covid-19 treatment.

In contrast, polyclonal antibodies are made using different immune cells. They will have an affinity for the same antigen, but different parts (epitopes) of the antigen molecule to which an antibody attaches itself. Monoclonal antibodies are made using identical immune cells that are clones of a specific parent cell.

Players like Roche have made an antibody cocktail therapy available in India.

British drug major Glaxosmithkline recently got the US drug regulator’s nod for its monoclonal antibody (Sotrovimab) for treating mild to moderate Covid-19 patients above 12 years. Ahmedabadbased Zydus Cadila has sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India for initiating clinical trials for its antibody cocktail — ZRC-3308. For now, Zydus is the only Indian company to have developed a neutralising monoclonal antibody-based cocktail for the treatment of Covid-19.

Navangul felt that since the virus tends to mutate, theoretically, a polyclonal antibody can be a better bet. This, however, has to be studied, he said. If a Covid-19 patient is given such a product (one or two shots) within the first five days or so, one neutralises the virus and has a better chance at recovering fast, he claimed.

Navangul said since the product would be developed and manufactured in India, the prices could be more affordable than global products. Cipla has launched Roche’s antibody cocktail product at ~59,750 a patient in June.