Health - The Purbottar

15 Jul

World’s Most Affordable COVID-19 Test Kit Launched

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Claimed to be the world's most affordable diagnostic kit for coronavirus, a low-cost test kit developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi was launched on Wednesday. According to IIT officials, the base price of the the RT-PCR assay developed by IIT Delhi is Rs 399. Even after adding the RNA isolation and laboratory charges, the cost per test will go upto Rs 650 and will be considerably cheaper compared to currently available kits in the market. It can deliver results within three hours. The kit Corosure has been commercialised by Newtech Medical Devices. HRD Minister Ramesh…

15 Jul

Two Indian Covid-19 vaccine candidates to start Human clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccine initiated in India: ICMR.

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As covid-19 cases in India ballooned to 9,11,427, two indigenous Indian vaccine candidates against covid-19 will enter human trials this month with over 1000 volunteers to be enrolled for the process on a fast-track basis, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday. Since India is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world, it is the country's "moral responsibility" to fast-track vaccine development process to break the chain of coronavirus transmission, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said, referring to the two vaccine candidates developed indigenously. Bharat Biotech has started human trials on its vaccine candidate,…

14 Jul

FabiFlu: Glenmark commences PMS study

editor0 CommentsBusiness, HealthFabiFlu, Glenmark

Glenmark has announced a price reduction of 27% for FabiFlu. The new MRP is Rs 75 per tab from the earlier Rs 103 per tab. The price reduction has been made possible through benefits gained from higher yields and better scale, as both the API and formulations are made at Glenmark’s facilities in India, the benefits of which are being passed on to patients in the country. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has also announced that it has commenced a Post Marketing Surveillance (PMS) study on FabiFlu to closely monitor the efficacy and safety of the drug in 1000 patients that are prescribed…

13 Jul

India lockdown cut smog

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India’s nationwide lockdown from 24 March to 17 May to contain the spread of COVID-19 has had unexpected spin-offs — it reduced smog over the national capital of New Delhi by 50 per cent and helped increase generation of solar power, says a new study. Ian Marius Peters, research scientist at the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy*, US, and lead author of the study published 19 June in Joule, says: “If you improve the air quality you actually make the renewable energy sources, especially solar, work better. So, there's a positive feedback loop there.”

11 Jul

Almonds can strengthen the immune system

editor0 CommentsBusiness, HealthAlmonds

Regular consumption of almonds that are a source of vitamin E, zinc, copper, foliate and iron, can contribute to a stronger immune system, according to Ritika Samaddar, Regional Head (Dietetics), Max Healthcare Delhi. She said almonds are high in Vitamin E, which acts as an antioxidant to support pulmonary immune function. Vitamin E is also known to offer protection against infections caused by viruses and bacteria. Beyond this, almonds are also high in Copper. Copper contributes to the normal function of the immune system. Almonds are also source of zinc. Zinc is known to play a central role in the…

08 Jul

Cipla Set To Undercut

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Indian drugmaker Cipla Ltd has priced its generic version of Remdesivir, Cipremi, at 4,000 rupees ($53.34) per 100 mg vial, according to several sources, making it among the lowest priced versions of the COVID-19 treatment available so far globally. Cipla had earlier said pricing would not exceed 5,000 rupees. On Tuesday, Sovereign Pharma, which is manufacturing and packaging the drug for Cipla, said it had dispatched the first batch. Cipla business chief executive officer and executive vice president Nikhil Chopra said in an emailed statement that the company was launching Cipremi commercially on Wednesday and aims to supply over 80,000…

08 Jul

‘Covaxin’ Human Trial Process Begins at Hyderabad’s NIMS, Patna AIIMS

editor0 CommentsHealthAIIMS, Covid-19, NIMS

Now that India has developed its first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, it has started its preparations to begin the much-awaited human clinical trials. Covaxin will be tested on more than 1100 people. The vaccine developed by the Bharat Biotech recently got the green signal from ICMR and the apex body has given nod to a total of 12 hospitals to begin preparations to conduct human clinical trials. Two of them include Hyderabad’s Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences and Patna-based All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) As per reports, the human trial will take at least 6 to 8 months to…

05 Jul

ICMR Bolsters ‘mid-August’ Covid Vaccine

editor0 CommentsHealthCovid-19, ICMR, Vaccine

The Indian Council of Medical Research has shortlisted 12 institutes, including one from Odisha, for human clinical trial of the India’s first COVID-19 vaccine. ICMR has developed the indigenous BBV152 COVID vaccine in partnership with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL). The apex body selected 12 institutes to fast track clinical trials of the vaccine which is one of the top priority projects monitored by the Central government. "The vaccine is derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. ICMR and BBIL are jointly working for the pre-clinical as well as clinical development of this vaccine," an official said.

05 Jul

Covid-19: Could take six to nine months to complete vaccine trials, says Soumya Swaminathan.

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A day after scientists and experts raised serious concerns over Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) letter to all 12 principal investigators to speed up the trial process of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine and enable it to be launched for “public health use latest by August 15”, the nodal agency issued a clarification saying the letter was meant only to “cut unnecessary red tape” and “speed up recruitment of participants”. Experts around the world have been saying that it would take at least 12-18 months to launch a vaccine for COVID-19. The vaccine, being jointly developed by a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical…

04 Jul

Man muggings female employee who asked him to wear a face mask

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A local government official in India beat a female employee with a chair leg after yanking her to the floor by her hair — all because she asked him to wear a mask, according to reports Tuesday. Bhaskar initially grabbed something from his desk to hit the woman – identified in local reports – while an elderly man grabbed his arm in a failed effort to restrain him. As other staff watched in horror, Bhaskar flung the elderly man to the floor, too — then grabbed a chair leg from the floor and started beating his initial target as she cowered there. A younger man…