The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed “highly purified antisera” that can be used in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.
“ICMR and Biological Evans, Hyderabad, have developed highly purified anti-sera (raised in animals) for prophylaxis and treatment of Covid-19. Such measures have previously been used in medical science to control many viral and bacterial infections such as rabies, hepatitis-B, vaccinia virus, tetanus, botulism and diphtheria,” the health research agency said in a tweet.
Although the plasma recovered from patients experiencing Covid-19 could serve a similar purpose, ICMR claimed that the anti-sera from the animal blood is a better option since the profile of (human) antibodies, their efficacy and concentration keep varying from one patient to another because of which human plasma was an unreliable clinical tool for patient management.
“On the other hand, standardisations of the antibodies are achievable through equine sera based treatment modality,” tweeted the agency.