<span style="color: #222222;">The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has announced that it has approved additional funding for clinical studies of mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine – HGCO19. This funding has been provided under the Mission COVID Suraksha.&nbsp;</span><br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">The vaccine is developed by Pune based biotechnology company Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited. The company has initiated the process to enroll healthy volunteers for the Phase I and II clinical trials.</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">Expressing happiness that India's first mRNA based Covid-19 vaccine is going to clinical trial, Secretary of Department of Biotechnology, Dr.&nbsp; Renu Swarup said this is a new technology and never used for vaccine manufacturing in India before.&nbsp;</span><br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">She said, believing in the potential of this technology, the Department has provided seed funding to Gennova to develop this technology.</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">&nbsp;</span><br />” <span style="color: #222222;">The Department informed that HGCO19 has already demonstrated safety, immunogenicity, neutralization antibody activity in the rodent and non-human primate models. mRNA vaccines are considered safe as mRNA is non-infectious and degraded by standard cellular mechanisms.&nbsp;</span><br />” <br />” <span style="color: #222222;">They are highly efficacious because of their inherent capability of being translatable into the protein structure inside the cell cytoplasm. This can be quickly manufactured inexpensively for mass vaccination on a sustainable basis.</span><br />” &nbsp;<br />