Psoriasis injection okayed for limited use to treat COVID patients

This picture has been used for representation purpose

India's drug regulator has approved Itolizumab, a drug used to cure skin ailment psoriasis for "restricted emergency use" to treat COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress, officials told PTI on Friday. Considering the unmet medical needs to treat COVID-19, Drugs Controller General of India, Dr V G Somani, approved monoclonal antibody injection Itolizumab, an already approved drug of Biocon, for restricted emergency use for the treatment of 'cytokine' release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patients due to COVID-19, they said.

"The approval was given after its clinical trials on COVID-19 patients in India was found satisfactory by the expert committee comprising pulmonologists, pharmacologists and medicine experts from AIIMS, among others, for treatment of cytokine release syndrome,¿ an official told PTI.

"It is already an approved drug of Biocon for treating psoriasis for last many years," the official said. Written informed consent of each patient is required before the use of this drug, he said.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever