India's Hester Biosciences rises 20% as co plans COVID-19 vaccine

Hester Biosciences

29/04/2020 07:11

** Indian animal healthcare co's shares  HEST.NS  hit upper
circuit after rising as much as 20% to 1364.85 rupees ($17.99) -
its highest in more than a month
    ** HEST says is collaborating with the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) in Guwahati to develop a COVID-19 vaccine
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2CH010
    ** A vaccine is typically produced by injecting a chemically
weakened state of the targeted virus into an animal host to
elicit a response from the immune system, which will create
antibodies to fight the virus
    ** HEST & the IIT will use the avian paramyxovirus-1 strain,
a viral infection that affects poultry and other birds, to
identify a protein that shows an immune response against the
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (https://reut.rs/3cUZahV)
    ** "It is too early to comment on the efficacy and
immunogenicity of the vaccine...we will be able to reveal more
details...after the results of animal studies are obtained" - 
Dr. Sachin Kumar, an associate professor at IIT Guwahati
    ** "(Co's) involvement would be from master seed development
up to release of the commercial vaccine" - HEST CEO
    ** Up to Tuesday's close, stock had fallen 21.6% YTD

($1 = 75.8850 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru)
 ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))