Over 30 Indian vaccines in works for corona vaccine development, PM Modi told

The government has also framed detailed guidelines for sharing of bio-specimen and data for such research among institutions and circulated them in April. Secondly, the development of new candidate drugs and molecules are being driven by linking high performance computational approached with laboratory verification. “In addition, by linking laboratories all over the country, capacity for both these kinds of tests has been enormously scaled up,” the government said. “The problem of importing reagents for testing has been addressed by consortia of Indian startups and industry, meeting current requirements. Prime Minister Modi at the meeting said he desired that such coordination and speed should be embedded into a standard operating procedure and what is possible in a crisis should be a part of our routine way of scientific functioning. The PM added that the innovative and original manner in which Indian scientists, from basic to applied sciences, have come together with industry is heartening. The meeting was attended by Principal Scientific Advisor to the government K. VijayRaghavan and NITI Aayog member V.K. “The joint committee (of VTF and an Empowered Technology Group set up by PMO) will examine each request where the R&D objectives and protocols are clearly presented and defined. Field applications and deployment of R&D results will need necessary subsequent approvals following due process,” the letter dated April 22, which ET accessed, has mentioned. The Empowered Group (EWG) No.1 on ‘Medical Emergency Management Plan’, headed by NITI Aayog member VK Paul has framed guidelines which have been circulated with the letter.