An anti-coronavirus vaccine being developed by the Pune-based company, Genova, has become the first indigenous mRNA candidate to have received approval to initiate a human clinical trial, said the Centre on Friday.
The mRNA vaccine is different than the regular model.
“The mRNA vaccines do not use the conventional model to produce an immune response. Instead, mRNA vaccine carries the molecular instructions to make the protein in the body through a synthetic RNA of the virus,” a government statement read.
As mentioned the mRNA vaccines are considered safe as they are non-infectious, non-integrating in nature, and degraded by standard cellular mechanisms.
The vaccine developed by American companies Pfizer and Moderna which are said to have over 90 percent efficacy, uses the mRNA model.
The AstraZeneca-Oxford’s covishield vaccine, which has shown efficacy of 70 percent and is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, uses the 50-year-old ‘adenovirus vector-based antigen’ platform.
While the mRNA vaccines developed by the US companies require sub-zero temperature to remain stable, “HGCO19” is stable at 2-8 degrees Celsius for two months, the Centre said.
