A new heat-tolerant Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru and biotech start-up Mynvax has shown strong antibody response against Covid variants including Delta and Omicron, according to a study on mice.
The heat-tolerant Covid-19 vaccine candidate can be stored at 37 degrees Celsius for four weeks and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes.
The vaccine candidate uses a part of the viral spike protein called the receptor-binding domain that allows the virus to connect with the host cell to infect it.
The latest study published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Viruses, assessed vaccinated mice sera for efficacy against key coronavirus variants, including Delta and Omicron.
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The study found that mice immunised with different formulations of the vaccine elicit high titres of antibodies that neutralise SARS-CoV-2 variants VIC31 (reference strain), Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus.
As per the study, there was an average 14.4-fold reduction in neutralisation against the Omicron variant for one formulation of the Mynvax vaccine and a 16.5-fold reduction for another formulation, comparing to VIC31.
