COVID-19

In a high-level meeting on COVID-19 policies, organised by EMA under the umbrella of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA), international regulators from around the world discussed strategic issues and regulatory approaches to ensure a coordinated response to the pandemic. They stressed the need for alignment on pre- and post-authorisation regulatory requirements to facilitate the rapid development, evaluation and availability of medicines for the treatment and prevention of coronavirus disease.

Italian scientists claimed that their vaccine candidate is working on coronavirus and neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. According to a report,this vaccine candidate is first in the world to show effect on human cells.

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad has tied up with a Bengaluru-based company, Eyestem Research Private Limited, to take up research activities on COVID-19. Through this research collaboration, an attempt will be made to grow novel coronavirus in human cell lines, which will enable in vitro testing of potential drugs and vaccines against the COVID-19.

Korean researchers have screened 48 FDA-approved drugs against SARS-CoV-2, and found that two, that are already FDA-approved for other illnesses, seem promising. The FDA approval for other uses would greatly reduce the time needed to gain FDA approval of use in COVID-19. The research is published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

The state's premier educational institution ISF College of Pharmacy, Dr. G. D. Gupta, Director invented “Wearable Infection Protection Ring”. Dr. Gupta told during a special conversation that wearing this ring will help in avoiding Covid-19 pandemic disease.

Hospitalized patients with advanced COVID-19 and lung involvement who received remdesivir recovered faster than similar patients who received placebo, according to a preliminary data analysis from a randomized, controlled trial involving 1063 patients, which began on February 21. The trial (known as the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial, or ACTT), sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is the first clinical trial launched in the United States to evaluate an experimental treatment for COVID-19.

Heads of state and global health leaders today made an unprecedented commitment to work together to accelerate the development and production of new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19 and assure equitable access worldwide.