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The first trial would be with 50 critically ill Covid-19 patients to verify whether the intravenous drug Sepsivac, used against sepsis or blood poisoning, can reduce mortality.
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The second trial would be with around 500 asymptomatic individuals, who may be close contacts of Covid-19 patients and healthcare personnel. The goal is to increase their innate immunity and thus prevent them from acquiring the disease.
Also read: Indian Coronavirus update: total number of confirmed cases statewide
The third trial will also be performed on a large number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 who are not seriously ill. The goal is to see if the medication can lead to a faster recovery and prevent the disease from progressing to a more serious one that requires ICU management.
“We have received approvals from the Indian General Drug Controller for three trials. The first will start soon and preliminary results can arrive in 35-40 days. Depending on the results, we will make a call to the other two trials, “said Ram Vishwakarma, director of CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu and coordinator of Covid-19 activities at CSIR.
At the core of the drug is a microbe called Mycobacterium W (MW) that was later renamed Mycobacterium indicus pranii (MIP) to honor its discoverer, Dr. Gursaran Pran Talwar, the great elder of Indian biology, which established the National Institute of Immunology in Delhi.
Looking for a leprosy vaccine, Talwar and his students discovered MW in the 1970s and extensively studied the germ that was successfully used as a leprosy vaccine. Due to its various unique properties, other researchers found its utility as a therapy against tuberculosis and some form of cancer for several years.
IIM Jammu developed indigenous medicine using a form of MW that kills heat around 2007 and the technology was transferred to major pharmaceutical company Cadila for commercial manufacture. The company would now be part of the test along with AIIMS, Delhi and Bhopal, as well as PGI Chandigarh.
“MW increases the body’s immunity to fight external agents like bacteria. For gram-negative sepsis, it reduces mortality by 50%. We would like to see if it works against Covid-19. AIIMS Bhopal obtained the approval of its Ethics Committee Institutional and we are waiting for the other two hospitals to complete the process, “said CSIR CEO Shekhar Mande.
Most people infected with Covid-19 or other viruses do not contract the disease or have a milder form of the disease due to adequate innate immunity. The reused drug trial aims to improve the internal immunity of infected people so that they can better combat the pandemic.
