Ronan Kelly
Retired 2020
Cow?s ?first milk? will join battle against swine flu
Raja Bose , TNN 26 September 2009, 03:35am IST |
ANAND: It will now be cow versus swine. As the world grapples with H1N1, cows in Anand, the country's milk capital, will provide the all-important
ingredient to tackle the menace.
After giving the country utterly, butterly, delicious milk products for almost five decades, Amul is ready to take on deadly viruses as it joins hands with a Mumbai-based company to collect `first milk' - which provides immunity to the newborn calf - to come out with an oral spray that increases the human's immune system against viruses, including HIV and H1N1.
The milk is being collected from Amul's milk co-operatives and the product, Receptor, will be marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand.
"The first milk from the mother's breast, called colostrum, helps the offspring build its immune system. We first removed fat by nano filteration from the colostrum collected from cows. The isolated particles, called nano-peptides, were named `Radha-108'. It has been patented in India and the US. If sprayed in the mouth, these nano-peptides reach the heart from where it is pumped around the body,'' says Dr Pawan Saharan, chairman of Biomix Network Limited, who got a soft loan of Rs 12 crore from the Department of Science and Technology to conduct research.
"This is a paradigm shift in research as it aims at strengthening the body against the virus. These nano-peptides block pores (receptors) on the cell surface that are gateway to viruses and also heighten the immune system in case of a viral attack,'' says Dr Saharan.
"Clinical trials have been condcuted in the US, Nigeria and India. AIDS patients have shown drastic reduction in viral load and those with influenza have turned asymptomatic,'' he adds.
While Biomix has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India, Receptor is being sold as a natural food supplement at eight counters at Mumbai's domestic and international airports.
"This is Amul's first foray in this field. Amul has provided land for research and production,'' says GCMMF chairman B M Vyas. The plant has come up on Amul Dairy premises in Khatraj near Ahmedabad. About 1,200 members of Amul's village co-operatives source colostrum from cows.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...tle-against-swine-flu/articleshow/5057839.cms
Raja Bose , TNN 26 September 2009, 03:35am IST |
ANAND: It will now be cow versus swine. As the world grapples with H1N1, cows in Anand, the country's milk capital, will provide the all-important
ingredient to tackle the menace.
After giving the country utterly, butterly, delicious milk products for almost five decades, Amul is ready to take on deadly viruses as it joins hands with a Mumbai-based company to collect `first milk' - which provides immunity to the newborn calf - to come out with an oral spray that increases the human's immune system against viruses, including HIV and H1N1.
The milk is being collected from Amul's milk co-operatives and the product, Receptor, will be marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand.
"The first milk from the mother's breast, called colostrum, helps the offspring build its immune system. We first removed fat by nano filteration from the colostrum collected from cows. The isolated particles, called nano-peptides, were named `Radha-108'. It has been patented in India and the US. If sprayed in the mouth, these nano-peptides reach the heart from where it is pumped around the body,'' says Dr Pawan Saharan, chairman of Biomix Network Limited, who got a soft loan of Rs 12 crore from the Department of Science and Technology to conduct research.
"This is a paradigm shift in research as it aims at strengthening the body against the virus. These nano-peptides block pores (receptors) on the cell surface that are gateway to viruses and also heighten the immune system in case of a viral attack,'' says Dr Saharan.
"Clinical trials have been condcuted in the US, Nigeria and India. AIDS patients have shown drastic reduction in viral load and those with influenza have turned asymptomatic,'' he adds.
While Biomix has applied to the Drugs Controller General of India, Receptor is being sold as a natural food supplement at eight counters at Mumbai's domestic and international airports.
"This is Amul's first foray in this field. Amul has provided land for research and production,'' says GCMMF chairman B M Vyas. The plant has come up on Amul Dairy premises in Khatraj near Ahmedabad. About 1,200 members of Amul's village co-operatives source colostrum from cows.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...tle-against-swine-flu/articleshow/5057839.cms
