Samiran Panda, head of epidemiology and infectious diseases at ICMR, told ET that members of the ICMR’s National Task Force on COVID-19 met last week to discuss the matter, but the national treatment guidelines for COVID-19 contain the drug. did not qualify for inclusion – 19. “The existing evidence did not qualify for inclusion of Paxlovid in treatment guidelines and the current guidelines are valid,” he said, adding that experts are awaiting data from ongoing trials and data Will review it when it arrives.
“At the moment the current evidence does not support its inclusion. But some trials are underway and we wait for more data and will review it again,” Panda said.
The antiviral drug mollupiravir, earlier failed to convince the ICMR to be included in India’s national COVID-19 treatment protocol due to “safety concerns”, even as it received an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the country’s drug regulator. ) received.
Last month, amid rising Covid-19 infections in the country, the drug regulator approved Paxlovid for restricted emergency use against Covid-19.
Hyderabad-based Hetero Labs holds the license to manufacture the generic version of Pfizer’s drug, which is touted as a game changer in the fight against the disease. The generic version is likely to launch soon as Hetero Labs is working out the pricing of the pill, people associated with it had earlier told ET.
The drug has been “strongly recommended” by the World Health Organization (WHO) in patients with mild and moderate types of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at the highest risk of hospitalization. The recommendation is based on data from two randomized controlled trials showing that the risk of hospital admission is reduced by 85% following administration of the drug in a high-risk group.
However, the UN agency has recommended against its use in COVID patients at low risk of hospitalization, stating that the benefits were found to be negligible.
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