Omicron-Specific Booster Vaccine: The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given emergency use permission for Omicron-specific booster vaccine Gemcovac-OM (GEMCOVAC-OM), developed by Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
The company claimed that Gemkovac-OM is the first booster vaccine against Kovid-19 which has been developed in India against the Omicron variant of Kovid-19. This vaccine has been developed by Genova Biopharmaceuticals in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under ‘Mission Kovid Suraksha’.
It is an mRNA-based vaccine, which has been developed using indigenous platform technology. People who have taken two doses of Covishield or Covaxin will be able to take Gemkovac-OM as a booster dose.
Gemkovac-OM is a thermostable vaccine.
Gemcovac-OM is a thermostable vaccine. This means that it does not require ultra cold chain infrastructure which is required for other approved mRNA based vaccines. For this reason, this vaccine will be available all over India.
It was also said that the vaccine remains stable at a temperature of two to eight degrees Celsius. It is an intradermal vaccine which is given through a needleless device called ‘Tropise’. ‘Tropis’ has been developed by the American company Pharma Jet. It gives a significantly higher immune response due to the intradermal dosage form.
CEO of Genova Biopharmaceuticals Limited said this
In a virtual press conference, Sanjay Singh, CEO of Genova Biopharmaceuticals Limited, said that during clinical trials, the booster vaccine has shown tremendous immune response in about 3000 people. This test was done at 20 centers in 13 cities. He said that the vaccine proved to be safe during the trial, due to which not a single case of side effects was found, while its quality was also excellent.
Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh praised
Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (I/C) for Science & Technology receiving DCGI approval for Gemkovac-OM said, “Enabling technology driven entrepreneurship through creation of indigenous mRNA platform technology, reiterates the mission of the Department of Biotechnology I am very proud to have completed it. We have always supported technology-driven innovation towards building a future-ready technology platform in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Atmanirbharta.”
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