~Contract Management
Leader Donates INR 15 Lakhs to Renowned Biomedical Research Institute to Test
Anti-Tuberculosis (BCG) Vaccine as COVID-19 Treatment~
Icertis, the leading provider of
enterprise contract management in the cloud, today announced a contribution of
INR 15 Lakhs to Haffkine Institute to support their efforts in
testing an Anti-Tuberculosis Vaccine as a treatment for COVID-19.
This donation will cover insurance costs to patients, indemnity to nurses,
doctors and investigators, drug supplies, and consumables for patient sample
testing in the clinical trials of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine as
a means to neutralize the effects of COVID-19.
At
this time, when there are no vaccines to stop the pandemic spread nor
established curative treatment methods, the need to develop effective
treatments has become critical. Heeding to the efforts of the Indian government
to curtail further growth of the pandemic, Haffkine Institute is working on the
development of new treatment modalities for COVID-19. The Institute is working
with the state government, various government-run hospitals
and Pune's BJ Medical College to test potential cures for COVID-19.
The trial that Icertis is funding will assess whether BCG can help bolster the immune
system of patients.
"The
Haffkine Institute has been a center for scientific and industrial research
since its inception in 1896," said Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee,
Secretary, Medical Education & Drugs Department, Government of Maharashtra . "We are grateful to Icertis for the
generous contribution towards the Institute's efforts to tackle the spread of
COVID-19. We are constantly working on ways to develop new treatments for
COVID-19 and this contribution will help our teams immensely as we unite to win
this battle against the virus."
The
Haffkine Institute is an autonomous research institute with an illustrious
history. Established in 1896 and named after the inventor of the plague
vaccine, Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, it has operated as a public trust
supported by the State of Maharashtra
since 1975, focused on training, research and testing to prevent and cure
communicable diseases. Much of its research has been focused on testing,
monitoring, prevention and treatment of communicable diseases like Influenza,
H1N1 and Rabies.
Icertis'
gift was made possible by voluntary reductions in pay to CEO and
Co-founder Samir Bodas, CTO and Co-founder Monish Darda and continues
Icertis' efforts to address the needs of the community. Last month, Icertis donated
INR 25lakh to ensure the safety of brave doctors, nurses, and hospital
staff of Naidu Hospital , Pune, with personal
protection equipment, including N95 masks, gowns, and gloves, hand sanitizer
dispensers, and viral transport media (VTM) kits, which protect test samples in
transit to the lab. Since the start of this pandemic, Icertis has contributed
more than US$200,000 to the organizations worldwide, including
the University
of Washington , the German
Red Cross and the Seattle Alliance for Education in its effort to contribute to
the communities in which it operates.
PUNE, India, May 19, 2020