COVID-19

Researchers at Penn Medicine have discovered a new, more effective method of preventing the body’s own proteins from treating nanomedicines like foreign invaders, by covering the nanoparticles with a coating to suppress the immune response that dampens the therapy’s effectiveness.

Antiviral medicine molnupiravir which recently got approval from the CDSCO in India and is being manufactured by many pharma companies, has serious safety concerns, and thus has not been included in the national COVID-19 clinical protocol recommended by the health ministry, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava said.

Bhargava said the COVID-19 task force has debated twice whether to include the Molnupiravir in the COVID-19 treatment protocol but decided against it because of concerns.

National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis [Formerly Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC)], a permanent Institute under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is an internationally recognized Institution for Tuberculosis (TB) research. It is a Supranational Reference Laboratory and a WHO Collaborating Centre for TB Research and Training. Recently, an International Centre for Excellence in Research (ICER) in collaboration with NIH was established at the Centre.

As countries prepare themselves to fight a possible ‘next wave’. The new variant – Omicron has been making headline and a surge in Covid 19 cases are evident. According to a study based on population-level evidence, the recently identified Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is associated with a substantial ability to evade immunity from prior Covid-19 infection. Omicron is also considered to be three times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) said that BBV152 (COVAXIN), its whole-virion inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has proven to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in paediatric subjects in phase 2 and 3 study.

Bharat Biotech had conducted phase 2/3, open-label, and multicenter studies to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity COVAXIN in healthy children and adolescents in the 2-18 age group.

Sun Pharma announced that one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to manufacture and market a generic version of MSD (a trade name of Merck & Co., Inc, Kenilworth, NJ, USA) and Ridgebacks molnupiravir under the brand name Molxvir in India. Earlier this year, Sun Pharma had signed a nonexclusive voluntary licensing agreement with MSD to manufacture and supply a generic version of molnupiravir in over 100 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) including India.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday, 28 December, announced that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) had approved two more COVID-19 vaccines and COVID-19 pill for restricted emergency use in India.

Two COVID-19 vaccines which are approved for restricted emergency use in India named Corbevax and Covovax. And Covid-19 pill from merck Molnupiravir is amongst the approved antiviral for COVID-19 in India.

Roche announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 At-Home Test. The test uses a simple anterior nasal swab sample that can be conveniently self-collected and self-tested by individuals aged 14 years and older, and by an adult for children aged 2-13 years old. The test is able to produce accurate, reliable and quick results in as few as 20 minutes for SARS-CoV-2 and all known variants of concern, including Omicron.

A new study from Columbia researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Hong Kong, adds more evidence that the omicron variant can evade the immune protection conferred by vaccines and natural infection and suggests the need for new vaccines and treatments that anticipate how the virus may soon evolve.