The stage is set for the transfer of a breakthrough technology for virus inactivation to the healthcare industry as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has invited companies with relevant expertise and experience to submit their expressions of interest (EOIs).

The innovative technology, developed by a team of scientists at the Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) recently, is expected to radically change the current testing procedure to detect life-threatening viral infections once it is transferred to the industry for commercial purpose. The companies interested to possess the cost-effective technology should submit their EOIs before May 1.

“Once the deadline for EOI submission is passed, our expert panel will review them. The processing of proposals is expected to take around 3-4 months,” ICMR Senior Scientist Dr Sadhana Srivastava told Pharmabiz. “The invitation to submit EOIs is open to all and domestic and foreign companies can take part,” she added.

The ICMR -- the apex body for formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research in the country -- aims to translate medical innovations to products or processes and introduce them into the public health system. Technology transfer is the formal handover of Intellectual Property (IP) or other rights to any entity to use and commercialise new invention. Typically, transfer technology is done after protecting the IPR, including patents and copyrights, after a process of due diligence about the company and with some terms and conditions for licensing.

The scientists at the NIV have developed chemical compounds that can be added to vacutainers to instantly make a wide range of viruses non-infectious while preserving immunoreactivity and nucleic acid stability for detection in diagnostic tests without affecting result accuracy. The method, thereby, eliminates risks involved in handling deadly viruses, making their testing possible even at common laboratories.

At present, such samples are tested at highly secured bio-safety labs, an expensive and laborious process that results in diagnosis delay. The novel method is extremely beneficial for a country like India which has only a few hi-tech containment facilities.

According to ICMR sources, the performance of the virus inactivation technology has been evaluated at three centres and the test has higher sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility. It can be efficiently used for qualitative detection of IgM antibody and nucleic acids in serum of suspected patients. Moreover, hematological and biochemical parameters can be assessed with better accuracy in the presence of the formulation. Another advantage is that the reagents that make the viruses inactive remain stable even at room temperature.

There are no complexities involved in using the new technology as it can be incorporated during the manufacturing process of blood collection tubes.

The scientists have already validated the efficacy of the formulation against viruses that include Japanese Encephalitis, Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD), dengue, chikungunya, Chandipura and Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). Viruses such as CCHF and KFD can now be tested only at biosafety level 3 and 4 laboratories.