New Delhi Indian Council of Medical Research has selected six pharmaceutical companies to make monkeypox vaccines. These companies are: Serum Institute of India, Biologicals E, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hester Biosciences Ltd., Indian Immunologicals Ltd. and Reliance Life Sciences.
Another 14 companies have been finalized to manufacture the diagnostic kits required to test for monkeypox. These include Tata Medical & Diagnostics, Siemens Healthcare and Mylab Discovery Solutions.
The confirmed cases of monkeypox in India now stand at 19. Monkeypox is a self-limiting disease characterized by fever with an unexplained intense rash all over the body.
Other symptoms include headache, swollen lymph nodes, muscle and body aches, back pain, and deep weakness.
“These companies will now work closely with ICMR NIV, where researchers have isolated the first strain of monkeypox virus strain and transferred the strain to help these companies develop vaccines and kits for monkeypox. These eligible companies have been requested to contact us at the earliest for further steps,” said an ICMR scientist aware of the matter.
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