In a major effort towards developing the Hepatitis C vaccine in India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Helmoholtz Association of National Research Centre (HANRC) of Germany have reached an agreement to form the Indo German Science Centre for Infectious Diseases (IGCID).

The pact will allow the scientists from both India and Germany to undertake research on the vaccine development for the deadly disease. The experiments on mice will begin in July this year in association with the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

To pursue the research programme, experts from HANRC would visit India with their specially designed mice, which will be used to test the virus for the deadly disease. The Hepatitis C affects an estimated 1.5 million people in the country.

A high level delegation from Germany led by Prof. JM Lynek, president, HANRC along with a team of 11 scientists are currently on a visit to India.

NIV, which will be the centre for research, has upgraded its facility and has the capability to test the virus. The German experts have designed the mice to test the strains of the virus. The NIV has different strains of the virus besides the molecular information. Both of these form the starting point of the experiment. All the logistics for the research have been worked out and if all goes well, the country could be on its way to be able to produce a vaccine for the virus, informed Prof NK Ganguly, director general, ICMR.

The research for Hepatitis C comes as a result of a scientific cooperation pact inked between both India and Germany. The two countries also went on to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, stated Prof Ganguly who was in Bangalore.

The ICMR DG also informed that the Central government would provide adequate fund to the project apart from administering collaborative budgetary efforts and promoting exchange of scientists and hold joint workshops.

A unique feature of the special mice models is that its immune system developed by Germany is akin to the humans and has the ability to replicate the disease. The NIV centre has recently set up a new research centre which is geared up not only to work in areas of virology, development of vaccines but also other anti-infectious diseases.

Presently, there are no animal models that can be used for Hepatitis C experiments in vaccine development. This is one of the reasons why the vaccine for the virus could not be developed anywhere in the world. These mice have been designed by experts and can replicate the disease as in the case of humans.