A biosciences company in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur is testing a cocktail of COVID-19 antibodies that could become India’s first indigenously developed cure for mild and moderately-infected patients. Currently, the drug is undergoing phase 1 human trials that are likely to be completed by the end of this month.

In early results, the medicine is showing promising results, turning infected patients RT-PCR negative in 72-90 hours, company officials told The Indian Express. 

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The drug is being developed by iSera Biological, a four-year-old company. It contains a cocktail of COVID-19 antibodies that are administered on a mild or moderately ill patient. It then prevents the disease from spreading and neutralises the existing virus.

And it’s got a thumbs up from experts too. Prof N K Ganguly, a former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, told the website that the drug looked promising and the principles on which the drug is based are very ‘well established’. “If found effective, it will be a very suitable drug, especially for a country like India,” he added.

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Very specific COVID-19 neutralising antibodies are purified to remove all chemicals. They are then developed in horses by injecting them with specific antigens obtained from the virus. The Serum Institute of India (SII), one of the largest producers of COVID-19 vaccines, helped in the selection of the right antigens, the chemicals that induce the production of antibodies in the infected host. 

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India is just coming out of a devastating second wave of COVID-19 that left thousands of people dead and left thousands others still coping with the after effects. Researchers have warned that the third wave of COVID-19 in India may begin this month and peak in October. At its peak, the country may record between 100,000 and 150,000 cases a day, they added.

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Citing researchers led by Mathukumalli Vidyasagar and Manindra Agrawal at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Hyderabad and Kanpur respectively, Bloomberg reported that states with high coronavirus cases, such as Kerala and Maharashtra, could “skew the picture.