Govt identifies 500 entities to win battle against Covid
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), a department within DST, along with Drug Controller General of India, has developed and notified a Rapid Response Regulatory Framework to provide expedited regulatory approvals for all diagnostics drugs and vaccines.
“Vaccine development is being supported with three Indian industries. Research on therapeutic and drug development has started,” said the statement.
Novalead Pharma, a Pune based company that specialises in drug repurposing, has identified 42 existing drugs that may be helpful to patients in treating the coronavirus disease (Covid-19.)
In a statement, the company said that it has deployed its proprietary computational technology for identifying existing drugs that may be potentially effective against the SARSCOV2, the virus that causes Covid-19, as well as for minimising the disease impact on human body.
The company, through a complex and extensive computational study, involving 2010 approved drugs and 30 potential viral and human targets, has identified a list of 42 existing drugs for further analysis.
“Use of existing drugs already approved by the regulators can offer a huge relief in the short to medium term, if found effective against Covid 19. The major advantage with this approach is that the drugs being approved are already proved to be safe for humans, are being actively manufactured and, therefore, can be immediately put to use in a very short time,” said Supreet Deshpande, CEO, Novalead Pharma, in a statement.
If successful, this could save lives and also prevent early infections from turning critical.
“Repurposing already existing drug molecules is preferred, especially during an outbreak situation, because it is faster. Developing a new drug is a timeconsuming effort,” said Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar, chief, epidemiology and communicable diseases division, Indian Council of Medical Research.