• India has reached out to Australia seeking to restock monoclonal antibodies doses to combat the Nipah virus and is expecting 20 more doses soon, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported.

Antibodies are proteins produced naturally by the immune system that target a specific foreign object (antigen). They are called monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) when they are produced by clones derived from a single parent cell. Monoclonal antibodies are used for diagnosis, disease treatment and research.

• The monoclonal antibody has passed the phase-one trial and has been administered to 14 persons globally till now.
• The mortality among the infected is very high in Nipah — between 40% and 70% — compared to the mortality in COVID, which was 2% to 3%.

ABOUT THE ANTIBODIES

• Developed in the United States, the antibody was shared with an Australian university as part of a tech-transfer initiative.
• India got some doses of monoclonal antibodies from Australia in 2018.
• Currently, doses are available for only 10 patients.
• No one in India has so far administered the antibody.
• It has to be administered in the early stage of the infection.
• There is no authorised treatment for Nipah.

USE IN AUSTRALIA

• The monoclonal antibody is used in Australia for the Hendra virus, which is a bat-borne virus that is associated with a highly fatal infection in horses and humans.
• Numerous disease outbreaks in Australia among horses have been caused by Hendra Virus.
• Two doses of the antibody have to be given per person.