University of Hyderabad start-up Oncoseek Bio bags US-India Covid project

HYDERABAD: Oncoseek Bio Pvt Ltd, a start-up incubated at the University of Hyderabad has received the United States-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF) for its strategy developed to fight Covid-19. This project, under Covid-19 Ignition grants for its ‘novel therapeutic strategy’ was one of the 11 selected out of 520 global proposals that were received and evaluated.

In its proposal, the start-up proposed to create antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) that can target and kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus.“The SDC will have both antibodies and medicine. So, when administered, the antibodies go and get attached to the virus and the drug is released at the site of action, thereby killing the virus,” Suresh Poosala, founder and president, Oncoseek Bio told TOI.