Ella Foundation of Bharat Biotech has successfully tested a preliminary vaccine for Ebola on mice. Ella Foundation has been trying to find a suitable vaccine to check the deadly viral disease that shook the world recently.
The company sources said that the vaccine from adenovirus and glycoprotein was tested on mice and the results were found to be promising for developing a full-fledged vaccine. Adenoviruses are responsible for respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, cystitis, and primary pneumonia in humans, and are therefore used as a clear target to understand the human immunity characteristics in laboratory. However, the efficacy of the vaccine will be judged by the outcomes seen in human trials.
Dr Krishan Ella of Ella Foundation said, “This preliminary vaccine needs to be further tested and has to undergo clinical trials. As the foundation does not have the required expertise, we want the Centre or scientific institutions to take it up.”
Nagendra Hegde, group leader of research at Ella Foundation informed that the for the next level research, Indian government should come forward, as finding a vaccine for cure against Ebola is of national interest.
Ebola is characterized as deadly disease as it spreads through contact. It has not yet hit India. He said that India was not actively pursuing research for Ebola drug discovery, adding China was currently pitching for African nationals residing in the country to become volunteers for human trials. According to statistics revealed by the foundation there are 261,000 suspected Ebola-affected cases mostly in Africa, Europe and America. Till now there are about 14,880 laboratory confirmed cases, and around 11,000 deaths are confirmed due to this disease. The worst hit part of the world is Africa.
Researchers revealed that Ebola is a multi-organ infecting disease. The virus could spread fast through human touch. Particularly India needs to be vigilant in containing this disease. Having understood the gravity of the situation across the world due to this disease the efforts of Bharat Biotech and its foundation are hailed all over. “Bharat Biotech as always has been the key player in providing healthcare solutions to the world at affordable costs. We are hoping that very soon the company will bring the vaccine to the market,” opined a pharmacy graduate in Hyderabad.
Other major companies that are working to provide a fool proof vaccine solution to Ebola in the world are GlaxoSmitKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Novavax. All these companies combined have invested an amount of approximately $500 million towards research and development of this vaccine.