Gujarat cows take on H1N1, HIV

Gujarat cows take on H1N1, HIV

Amul Launches Oral Spray To Strengthen Immune System

Anand: It will now be cow versus swine. As the world grapples with H1N1, cows in Anand, the countrys 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 Mumbaibased company to collect first milk which provides immunity to the new-born calf to come out with an oral spray that increases the humans immune system against viruses, including HIV and H1N1.

The milk is being collected from Amuls milk cooperatives and the product, Receptor, will be marketed by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which owns the Amul brand.

The first milk from the mothers breast, called colostrum, helps the offspring build its immune system . We first removed fat by nano filtration 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 nanopeptides 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 the 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 conducted in the US, Nigeria and India . HIV 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 Mumbais domestic and international airports.
This is Amuls first foray into this field. Amul has provided land for research and production, says GCMMF chairman BM Vyas. The plant has come up on Amul Dairy premises in Khatraj near Ahmedabad . About 1,200 members of Amuls village cooperatives source colostrum from cows.