Diagnosis and quarantine,

With a worldwide pandemic, coronavirus is not the last word. Ebola, Zika, Nipah, SARS, MERS, H1N1, and now COVID-19 — the onslaught of the virus will continue. Mutations in known viruses, for whatever reason, regularly cause havoc. Zika virus Aedes albopictus Mosquitoes, a major reason for the transmission of these viruses, appear to be proximity and contact with animals, including wildlife, as an exotic food menu or as part of the use of animals as aphrodisiacs. Bats appear to be another constant source of new viruses. Seafood is also said to be the cause of the outbreak of Wuhan.

In India, given the population density and poor hygiene and awareness, citizens can face serious situations, even though the disease may have occurred elsewhere. For bacterial infections such as cholera and typhoid, there are drug and vaccine options. Some of the above viruses are not yet available for vaccines and medicines. In India, options are always limited to diagnosis according to World Health Organization protocols, and seem to be the exclusive domain of the National Virus Institute (NIV), Pune, and its designated centers. Prevention is the best option, but I feel it is important that India can do much better in terms of treatment options. However, there is always a leak, as seen in the case of COVID-19 in developed countries. India has the expertise to team up to address more than just diagnosis and quarantine.

About sequences

What can you do? The first requirement is to sequence the genome of all isolates from patients infected in India. For example, COVID-19 is an RNA virus. This requires conversion to DNA, and the alphabetic sequence (ATGC) works. COVID-19 is less than 30kb (30,000) in size and can be sequenced in 24 hours in India. The article had a suggestion, “How does India contain COVID-19?” (“FAQ” page, HinduBased on genome sequences made available by NIV, Pune, March 8, 2020, that Indian viruses differ from Chinese viruses.

The virus is evolving rapidly, and the mutations found in, for example, virus isolates in the United States are different from those in China. There was also a hint that this could be due to a sequence error. It is important to be aware that the RNA to DNA copy mechanism can cause errors.

In any case, it is important to sequence virus isolates in at least three different institutions in India to ensure that sequencing errors are eliminated. Knowledge of genomic sequences is essential for drug and vaccine design.

Short term and long term

The quick response is to evaluate the diverted known drugs, including natural products, for treatment, a drug development strategy based on the reuse of existing approved drugs for new medical indications. For example, for COVID-19, anti-HIV drugs are being evaluated. Even the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine has been proposed as an ancillary drug option because it can create acidic endosomal compartments where the virus can replicate alkaline to prevent the process. Another option is to try passive immunization with plasma obtained from a fully recovered convalescent patient. Yet another strategy is to clone B cells from such patients to produce therapeutic antibodies. All of these require informed consent and policy decisions from patients.

A long-term approach is to clone the genome, create a recombinant antigen, and then test vaccine potential and new drug design. A phage library expressing all possible human antibodies (single chain) is available for screening. The virus or its mimic needs to be cultured for drug screening. All of these approaches will ultimately require rapid clinical trials with the assistance of the Office of the Indian Drug Administration.

Leverage vast expertise

The quick response quote is 3 months and the long term is 18 months. In my opinion, the expert team should show the institutions listed in parentheses as examples, representing the following areas: Clinical virology (NIV, Pune; Translational Health Sciences and Technology Institute, Faridabad, Haryana), molecular virology (Biotechnology Regional Center, Faridabad, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore), scale-up of vaccine production (Indian Serum Institute, Pune, Gennova, Pune, Bharat Biotech, Hyderabad), clinical trials and drugs (Sun Pharma, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, Reddy Labs, Hyderabad, Drug Controller General of India), expertise in DNA / RNA sequencing ( National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani, Hyderabad Center for Cell and Molecular Biology; Institute for Genomics and Integrated Biology, New Delhi).

The institution in parentheses is only an example, and I would like to emphasize that there are many other organizations, including the private sector, that have overlapping expertise. Such expert committees are overseen by an independent expert committee consisting of senior experienced scientists and managers. The committee should cross the territorial integrity of the government’s science and technology sector and include the private sector.

The bottom line is that with the expertise built up in the country for many years, scientifically addressing such issues in terms of treatment options, at least as important as launching a satellite into space or landing a person on the moon. Is to respond.

Professor G. Padmanavan is a former director of the Indian Institute of Science, President of Bangalore, Indian Academy of Sciences, and President of Tamil Nadu Central University