Shares of Hester Biosciences hit the upper circuit in Wednesday’s trade after it said Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is collaborating with the company to work on the vaccine development against Covid-19.

The agreement between the two parties was signed on April 15, 2020.

The scrip climbed 20 per cent to Rs 1,366, while the benchmark BSE Sensex traded 0.98 per cent higher at 32,429.

“The vaccine will be based on recombinant avian paramyxovirus based vector platform. The recombinant avian paramyxovirus-1 will be used to express the immunogenic protein of SARS-CoV-2. The recombinant avian paramyxovirus-1 expressing the SARS-CoV-2 protein could be used as a vaccine candidate for further study,” the Ahmedabad-based pharma firm said.

The smallcap firm added that the avian paramyxovirus-1 has been explored as a vaccine vector for various animals and human pathogens.

Commenting on the collaboration and role of Hester Biosciences, Rajiv Gandhi, CEO and MD, Hester Biosciences, said, “In the current pandemic situation of Covid-19, the world is looking at developing preventive and curative measures to safeguard mankind. IITG and Hester have collaborated to develop and manufacture a recombinant vaccine against Covid-19 disease as a preventive measure. Hester’s involvement would be from master seed development up to release of the commercial vaccine”.

“Hester has a fairly good understanding and the capability to get into human vaccines, specifically into a vaccine against the COVID-19 disease,” added Gandhi.

IIT Guwahati and Hester Biosciences expect the vaccine to be ready by the end of this year to start animal studies. The work is currently in its early stage of development.