The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) has bagged the prestigious Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Technology Award 2021 for the team led by director S. Chandrasekhar for developing a cost-effective and scalable process for the synthesis of TLR 7/8 agonist molecule (IMDG) used as an adjuvant in Covaxin on Sunday.

The awards were announced during the 80th CSIR Foundation Day celebrations held in the presence of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh in New Delhi. This technology has helped Bharat Biotech upscale the production of the vaccine.

The process technology for the adjuvant with locally available ingredients demonstrates the efforts of the CSIR vision of ‘Atmanirbhar’ Bharat. Other team members of the award include Ch. Raji Reddy, Prathama Mainkar, M. Mohana Krishna Reddy, P. Nagender and N. Jagadeesh Babu.