Reagene Innovations collaborates with Tech Mahindra to counter coronavirus transmission

HYDERABAD: Reagene Innovations incubated at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) along with Indras Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad will be collaborating with Tech Mahindra, one of the IT giants, to identify FDA approved drugs which can be redeployed as therapeutics for Covid-19.
The collaboration will use both Artificial Intelligence (AI) and rational computational approaches for identifying approved existing drugs validated using biological and pharmacological methods. The objective of their collaboration is to stop the entry of the virus into lung airway epithelial cells.
Researchers said that the choice of this strategy is important because the high transmission rate of Covid-19 is attributed in part to tight attachment of the virus that facilitates its entry into lung cells. Once the virus is stopped from entering the cells, it is rendered harmless.
Reagene Innovations Pvt. Ltd, a biotech startup co-founded by Uday Saxena and Subramanyam Vangala, will create a human vascular lung model to study Covid-19 using 3D bioprinting technique. This new technique is being used to create human organs and tissues.
“This collaboration will bring valuable findings in therapeutic interventions through a faster route than conventional drug discovery as well as add invaluable intellectual property,” said Ratnakar Palakodeti, Vice President of Life Sciences vertical of Tech Mahindra.
The technology frontrunner, Tech Mahindra will use the decades of scientific expertise of Saxena, an internationally experienced pharmaceutical executive. In addition, the collaboration will use the rational in silico scientific expertise of INDRAS in identifying the most suitable drugs which could be repurposed against Covid-19.
“This project will also include artificial intelligence in protein-ligand interactions towards the global goal of identifying repurposed drugs for Covid-19 mitigation” said Nikhil Malhotra, Global Head of Innovations of Tech Mahindra.

— Nirupa Vatyam / TNN / May 16, 2020, 17:11 IST

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