A health care staff from Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences tried to rape a COVID patient on June 09. “An attempt to rape case has been registered; a person who transports covid bodies has attempted to rape a COVID patient. We have arrested the accused and the investigation is underway” said Kishore Babu DCP, Kalaburagi. The accused works in the COVID mortuary department GIMS hospital.
Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi have reported successful use of monoclonal antibody therapy in two Covid-19 patients with fast progression of symptoms within the first seven days.
The two patients, who were administered the REGCov2 (Casirivimab and Imdevimab), designed to produce resistance against the SARS-CoV-2, recovered and were discharged within 12 hours of being given the doses.
A 36-year-old healthcare worker with high-grade fever, cough, myalgia, severe weakness, and leucopenia was administered REGCov2 on day six of the disease, according to the press release of the hospital.
“Patient’s parameter improved within 12 hours and was discharged,” the release added.
Monoclonal antibodies are identical copies of an antibody that targets one specific antigen. This treatment has previously been used to treat infections such as Ebola and HIV.
The second case was of the 80-year-old RK Razdan who was both diabetic and hypertensive and had high-grade fever and cough.
Razdan’s oxygen saturation was more than 95% on room air. Monoclonal antibody and a CT scan confirmed mild disease.
“A CT scan confirmed mild disease. He was given REGCov2 on day 5. The patient’s parameter improved within the next 12 hours,” the hospital said in a statement.
Dr Pooja Khosla, Senior Consultant, Department of Medicine, SGRH, said monoclonal antibody therapy could prove to be a game-changer if used at an appropriate time.
“Monoclonal antibody could prove to be a game-changer in times to come if used at an appropriate time. It can avoid hospitalisation in high-risk groups and progression to severe disease. It can help escaping or reducing the usage of steroids and immunomodulation which would further reduce the risk of fatal infections like Mucormycosis, secondary bacterial and viral infections like CMV,” she said.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which developed 2 -Deoxy-D-Glucose (2-DG), a drug used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, has called for Express of Interest (EOI) to transfer the technology to Indian pharmaceutical industries for production.
The 2-DG is developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy’ Laboratories.
The third phase trials of 2-DG began in January, while the phase trials were conducted over three month period between June and September last year and involved 110 patients.
The DCGI had granted permission in May last year to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for conducting a clinical trial of 2 DG for “acute treatment of moderate to severe Covid-19 patients.”
The government has recently launched 2-DG as an anti -Covid-19 therapeutic application of the drug 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG).
Patients treated with 2-DG have shown negative RT-PCR in COVID-19 patients.
Administering dexamethasone — one of the few drugs shown to reduce the risk of death from Covid — to pregnant women may cause major congenital malformation in babies, according to a study that looked at how safe common Covid-19 medications were for pregnant women.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Montreal in Canada and Université Claude Bernard in France and published in the medical journal The Lancet, showed that several repurposed drugs that are in different stages of trials or have been approved for use in Covid patients are associated with adverse outcomes in pregnant women.
The team from Canada and France looked at data of women who delivered a baby between 1998 to 2015 in Canada.
“Medications already available to treat other conditions are presently being studied in clinical trials as potential treatments for COVID-19. Given that pregnant women are excluded from these trials, we aimed to investigate their safety when used during pregnancy within a unique population source,” the researchers wrote in the study.
As many as 231,075 women who gave birth to a single child were included in the study. Of these, at least 8,213 pregnancies were exposed to at least one Covid-19 repurposed drug.
These included drugs such as chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, HIV medications (indinavir, lopinavir/ritonavir, raltegravir, and saquinavir), and multiple sclerosis study medications (interferon beta-1a, beta-1b, and alfa-2b).
While the use of these drugs varies according to the approvals given by countries, one of the drugs analysed in the study was dexamethasone — an oral steroid that is recommended for use in moderate to severe Covid patients, reported ThePrint.
The team found records of 107 pregnant women who were given dexamethasone. Use of this drug, as well as antithrombotics and HIV medications, were all associated with a high risk of premature birth.
The use of dexamethasone and azithromycin was associated with major birth defects in the babies.
Antithrombotics and HIV medication use during pregnancy was associated with the risk of premature birth and low birth weight.
Previous studies have also shown that the risk of premature birth is higher in people who take dexamethasone during their pregnancy.
The study suggests that doctors need to exercise caution while treating pregnant women infected with Covid.
The study, though, had some limitations. The researchers used data made available through insurance records to study the patient’s use of medicines and other related parameters. However, the researchers point out that the women may have taken some over-the-counter drugs during their pregnancy that would not have been part of the records.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking to postpone postgraduate entrance test being conducted by AIIMS on June 16 and termed the schedule of the exam an utter disregard to the assurance given by the PM Office while postponing the NEET PG examination, 2021 by four months.
A group of 26 doctors led by Poulami Mondal contended that holding if Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI CET) 2021 contravene of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
The plea said initially the exam was scheduled to take place in May 2021, which stood postponed due to worsening Covid situation. Later, a notification on May 27, was issued by assistant controller (Exams), All India Institute if Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for the exam in June 14. The petitioners said there are some 815 seats in 10 colleges for which more than 80,000 doctors will appear and take the examination.
The plea argued that after assurance from the PMO, many doctors have taken a job and have become frontline workers with no time to prepare for the test.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals announced interim data of 503 patients from its Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) study on Favipiravir in India. The PMS study commenced in July 2020 aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Favipiravir in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients. This PMS is the first and large post-marketing study being conducted in India on Favipiravir in mild to moderate COVID-19 patients and as on date, a total of 1083 patients have been enrolled in the prospective, open-label, multicenter, single-arm study. A total of 13 sites – both Government and private institutions – across Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Nashik, Nagpur, and Trivandrum took part.
Interim data presented by Glenmark to the regulator reveals no new safety signals or concerns with the use of Favipiravir and already-known side effects such as weakness, gastritis, diarrhoea, vomiting etc., which were found to be mild in nature. The time to fever resolution was seen on day 3, while two-third of the patients achieved clinical cure on day 7.
The study was conducted in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19, in line with the approved indication of the drug. The mean age of patients was 40 years, with the most common age group being 30-45 years. Women comprised 40 per cent, while men 60 per cent of the study population. Hypertension and Diabetes were the two most common comorbidities noted in these patients. Fever was present in all patients at baseline followed by cough (84.6 per cent), fatigue (55 per cent), new loss of taste (38.1 per cent).
Commenting on these findings, Alok Malik, Group VP & Head, India Formulations, said, “It is encouraging to note that our interim data supports the safety and effectiveness of FabiFlu in real-world settings. Since its launch last year, FabiFlu has provided immense relief to millions of patients in India and the world, while also reducing the overall burden on healthcare infrastructure. We will soon submit the final study findings to the regulator and continue to deliver FabiFlu’s multiple benefits to patients all over.”
In breakthrough research by Indian homeopath Dr Rajesh Shah in collaboration with clinical pharmacologists at Mumbai’s BYL Nair Hospital, five new homeopathic drugs have shown anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects in a laboratory model. The research paper was published last week in a peer-reviewed, a Pub-med listed British Homeopathy Journal.
In this research, five new homeopathic nosodes were developed from bacteria that produce typhoid (Salmonella typhi), pneumonia (Klebsiella pneumonia), gonorrhea (Neisseria Gonorrhea), gastrointestinal infections (E Coli) and from fungus (Candida albicans) by Dr Rajesh Shah, a homeopath cum researcher. Nosodes are homeopathic medicines prepared from bacteria and viruses. Nosodes are often comparable with vaccines because they are prepared from viruses and bacteria, but they are not vaccines. There are about fifty nosodes used in homeopathy for over 150 years. Interestingly, homeopathy and vaccination were introduced to the world in the same year, that is 1796.
“Homeopathy is often subjected to skepticism due to lack of scientific evidence,” said, Dr Shah, who has been working on new drugs for last two decades. “This research is a strongly convincing evidence of the scientific proof of the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects of homeopathic medicines in laboratory experiments.” Dr Shah was earlier awarded a national award from the Ministry of AYUSH in 2018, for his research in developing another nosode from the TB germs. Dr Renuka Munshi and Geeta Talele are the co-authors of this research paper.
Candida is a common fungus affecting skin and lungs. The research shows that a nosode prepared from Candida fungus was able to inhibit the growth of candida fungus in the laboratory. Its success was as effective as standard anti-fungal medicine called amphotericin.
Similarly, the homeopathic nosodes prepared from Typhoid bacteria (Salmonella typhi) in certain doses could inhibit the growth of the germs similar to that by Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin. A new drug prepared from E. Coli could also inhibit the growth of E. Coli bacteria as effectively as the previously mentioned antibiotics. Typhoid and E. Coli bacteria are amongst the major bacteria producing infections of the intestines and other organs.
Klebsiella pneumonia is a major cause of pneumonia, a lung infection. A homeopathic nosode prepared from the same bacteria could inhibit the growth at par with the commonly used antibiotics.
“Infections of typhoid, E. Coli and pneumonia are among the most common in daily practice. Many of these bacteria tend to become resistant to antibiotics, requiring stronger antibiotics with more adverse effects,” said Dr Rajesh Shah, “It will be a great advantage if homeopathic medicines could demonstrate such results in human trials a well, which could potentially help reduce the use of antibiotics.” Dr Shah is a director and research head at Biosimilia Pvt Ltd, a start-up focusing on new drugs prepared from biological materials.
When an allopathically trained lung-specialist (pulmonologist) from KEM Hospital, Dr Jaswant Patil was asked about the anti-microbial scope of homeopathy, he said, “Many homeopathic studies have shown anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal effects in animal and clinical trials in the past. In spite of being an allopathic doctor, I use homeopathic medicines for most of such infections and I get excellent results.” Dr Patil is a pulmonologist turned homeopath, who has given up his ICU practice and now practicing homeopathy for over twenty years.
In a series of experiments with various germ-based nosodes developed by Dr Shah, he says, “We have seen anti-HIV, anti-Hepatitis C, anti-malaria and anti-cancer effects in laboratory and human models with some of the nosodes. I firmly believe that nosodes will have a great future in the preventive and therapeutic roles in healthcare.”
Homeopathy has a tradition of making nosodes from almost all major germs including TB, measles, smallpox, syphilis, scabies, diphtheria, and more. Some of the homeopathic nosodes prepared from specific germs were found to be very effective in managing epidemics of leptospirosis, dengue and influenza in Brazil and Cuba. Recently, Biosimilia has also developed a nosode from the COVID-19 virus and has conducted phase 1 and phase 2 trials examining the prophylactic role of the nosode.
Source: Biosimilia Pvt Ltd
The National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 4th June, 2021 to extend joint collaborative efforts for boosting the cultivation and production of medicinal plants and herbs in India, the Ministry of AYUSH has said.
In a statement, the ministry said, “The MoU will facilitate the development of Quality Planting Material (QPM) of medicinal plants and herbs identified by NMPB, help in the establishment of their nurseries for QPM, development, promotion, conservation and cultivation of the appropriate medicinal plants in different agro-climatic zones, including the threatened medicinal plant species and plants for the high-altitude regions.”
It added, “Through this collaboration, NMPB will support CSIR-NBRI in carrying out the potential medicinal plant species with high commercial value for germplasm collection/conservation and establishment of nursery and seed banks/gene banks.”
It also stated that NBRI, while undertaking the survey of medicinal plants, will work in coherence with NMPB in the desired direction. The outreaches of NMPB and its implementing agencies like State Medicinal Plants Boards (SMPBs) and regional-cum-facilitation centres will work together under the ambit of this MoU.
Lupin has received a nod from the US health regulator to market generic emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets used for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 infection in the American market.
The company has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to market its emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets, 200 mg/300 mg, Lupin said in a regulatory filing.
The product is a generic version of Gilead Sciences Inc’s truvada tablets in the same strength, it added.
The product will be manufactured at the company’s facility in Nagpur, the filing said.
Emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets had estimated annual sales of $2.1 billion in the US, it added.
“Emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets, 200 mg/300 mg, are indicated in combination with other anti-retroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. It is also used for pre-exposure prophylaxis to reduce the risk of sexually-acquired HIV-1 infection,” Lupin said.
Government of India has capped the charges for administration of Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V vaccines on Tuesday. The decision came up with an objective to stop private hospitals form overcharging patients in the name of vaccination.
The prices are as follows:
In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday announced a centralised Covid-19 vaccine policy. He also announced that from June 21, all citizens above the age of 18 years will get free vaccines, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in the coming days. “Work on producing an intranasal vaccine for Covid is also happening,” he said.
“The government has placed an order to purchase 25 crores doses of Covishield and 19 crore doses of Covaxin. It has also placed an order to purchase 30 crore doses of Biological E’s vaccine, which will be available by September,” Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog said.