Bengaluru-based Biocon’s Itolizumab has got approval from The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for the treatment of Coronavirus patients. The drug, Itolizumab is used to cure skin ailment psoriasis and has been approved to use only for “restricted emergency use”.
It will be used on Coronavirus patients with acute to severe respiratory distress only on 30 patients across four centres. The treatment will be performed based on the clinical trials on these patients.
The health ministry said Biocon has been manufacturing Itolizumab – a monoclonal antibody drug. It has been used to treat patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis since 2013. “This indigenous drug has now been repurposed for coronavirus,” said the health ministry in a statement on Saturday. It will be marketed under the name ALZUMAb.
As per the reports by News18, Biocon claimed that the clinical trials on these 30 patients had a good outcome. It reduced mortality, improved oxygen levels and reduced hyper-inflammation in the body.
The company said that 20 out of the 30 patients showed significant improvement. The trials had begun in the month of May and were carried out at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi and at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai.
