HGCO19: India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate receives approval
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-II –Health & GS-III – Sci & Tech
In news
India’s first indigenous mRNA vaccine candidate, HGCO19, has received approval from Indian Drug regulators to initiate Phase one and two human clinical trials.
Key takeaways
HGCO19 has been developed by Gennova, Pune and supported with seed grant under the Ind-CEPI mission of the Department of Biotechnology.
The mRNA vaccines do not use the conventional model to produce immune response.
Instead, they carry the molecular instructions to make the protein in the body through a synthetic RNA of the virus.
mRNA-based vaccines are scientifically the ideal choice to address a pandemic because of their rapid developmental timeline.
The mRNA vaccine is considered safe as is non-infectious, non-integrating in nature, and degraded by standard cellular mechanisms.
