Gemovac-OM, an Omicron-specific mRNA-based booster vaccine created using the homegrown platform technology by Gennova, was introduced by Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday.
According to the Ministry of Science & Technology, Gennova developed an indigenous platform technology with financing assistance from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The vaccine recently received approval for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the office of the Drug Control General of India (DCGI), it was said.
“I take great pride in DBT fulfilling its mission yet again – enabling technology-driven entrepreneurship through creating this indigenous mRNA-platform technology. We have always supported technology-driven innovation towards the creation of a ‘future-ready’ technology platform in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Aatmanirbharta,” said Jitendra Singh.
The fifth vaccine, Gemovac-OM, was created with assistance from Mission Covid Suraksha, which was carried out by DBT and BIRAC as part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package to hasten the development of Indian covid-19 vaccines.
“Within a year of implementation, the Mission Covid Suraksha demonstrated major achievements, such as (i) Development of the World’s first DNA Vaccine for COVID-19, and (ii) Supporting the development of the nation’s first mRNA Vaccine and intranasal vaccine candidates and a subunit vaccine against COVID-19,” the minister said.
According to him, this “future-ready” technology platform can be utilised to quickly produce more vaccinations.
“Steady investments made by the government has created a strong entrepreneurship as well as Startup ecosystem which had actually facilitated our response against the mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic. I congratulate DBT and BIRAC for fulfilling its mission yet again by enabling technology-driven entrepreneurship through creating this indigenous mRNA-platform technology,” Singh added.
Being thermostable, GEMCOVAC-OM does not require the ultra-cold chain infrastructure needed for other mRNA-based vaccinations that have been authorised.
“This innovation makes it easy for last mile deployment in our country. The existing supply chain infrastructure is sufficient to deploy this vaccine,” said Singh, adding, “Its unique feature is that this vaccine can be administered without a needle injection.”
A needle-free injection device system is used to administer the vaccine intradermally, and study participants’ immune responses were noticeably enhanced by this method. The clinical outcome shows that variant-specific vaccinations are required to elicit the desired immune response.
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