dengue drug to treat COVID-19
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Dengue Drug To Treat COVID-19 Enters Phase II Clinical Trial

The Phase II clinical trials of Sun Pharma’s AQCH, a plant-derived drug for the treatment of COVID-19, has been commenced. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the Sun Pharma for conducting the Phase II clinical trial in April. The council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) are also taking part in the project.

The clinical trial will be conducted across the country, in 210 patients from 12 centers located in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, other places. The patients will be given the treatment for 10 days. They are expecting the results from the clinical trial by October 2020. The drug was found safe at the recommended dose for Phase II study during the human safety study of AQCH.

Sun Pharma has been working closely with CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu, under the leadership of Dr. Ram Vishwakarma and DBT-International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), under the leadership of Dr. Navin Khanna, to develop a phytopharmaceutical drug for dengue.

AQCH is the first plant-derived drug approved as a potential treatment for COVID-19 by the DCGI.

When conducted in

-vitro studies in collaboration with ICGEB, Italy, AQCH showed anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects.

These results gave the researchers confidence to evaluate AQCH’s potential to treat COVID-19.

IIIM Jammu did the preclinical development and IND (Investigational New Drug Application) enabling studies. Later, the IND submission and clinical trial work were carried out by Sun Pharma.

Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, Director, IIIM Jammu, while speaking with India Science Wire, said this is a perfect example of synergy R&D organizations, public institutions, and private companies.

Broad antiviral effects are shown by AQCH, the drug originally developed for dengue, and hence it was tested for its potential in treating COVID-19.

Under the auspices of the DBT Task Force on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, the work on the evaluation of plant-derived drugs for the treatment of dengue began in 2007.

DBT’s efforts to develop an effective and safe therapy against dengue started 13 years ago, said Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT. The team had immediately initiated studies for developing a drug for COVID-19.

CSIR welcomes the collaboration with Sun Pharma in conducting the clinical trials of the dengue drug AQCH to treat COVID-19, commented Dr. Shekhar C Mande, Director General, CSIR

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