Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has licensed three indigenous biomedical technologies to leading domestic pharmaceutical and vaccine makers for development, manufacturing and commercialisation, an official statement said on July 21.
These technology transfers mark another significant step towards accelerating the translation of publicly funded research into affordable healthcare solutions and strengthening India’s biomedical innovation ecosystem, the statement from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
The technologies include SHetA2, a novel anti-HPV therapeutic candidate for the treatment of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN), licensed to Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
The two next-generation vaccine technologies against enteric bacterial infections, developed at ICMR–National Institute of Research in Bacterial Infections (ICMR-NIRBI), Kolkata, were also licensed to Biological E Ltd.
SHetA2 was developed through a collaboration between Dr. Showket Hussain, ICMR National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (ICMR-NICPR) and Dr. Doris M. Benbrook, Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma, USA.
It is a first-in-class targeted therapeutic candidate that selectively eliminates HPV-induced precancerous and cervical cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.
The technology has the potential to provide a safe, affordable and minimally invasive treatment option for cervical cancer, the statement added.
Vaccine technologies developed by the team include a fusion construct containing Salmonella typhi outer membrane protein as a promising next-generation typhoid vaccine candidate.
