Monika Halan is editor of Mint Money, India's second-largest business newspaper, which has an exclusive partnership with the Wall Street Journal.
Serum Institute of India plans to make 300 million doses of AZD1222 by December, and will begin phase-2 trials soon. It has also tied up with Novavax for development and commercialisation of its candidate.
Concerned about the rise of antibiotic resistance and the time it takes for drugs developed abroad to reach Indians, the government is considering holding its own clinical trials. Clinical trials for new drugs have so far primarily been conducted only by private Indian or foreign drug firms. But given the stringent nature of India's regulatory environment for clinical trials, several pharmaceutical companies have moved their trials out of India. As a result, only 1.2 per cent of global clinical trials take place in India.
The PMO said mass yoga demonstrations will be organised at 75 iconic locations across the country under the leadership of 75 Union ministers, with Modi attending the exercise at Mysore.
Her appointment as World Health Organisation's deputy director offers an opportunity to push for improving the medical research environment in India.
Astronauts aboard the space station have found themselves facing a foe far tinier than any rogue asteroid: A joint study by IIT-Madras and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- under Principal Investigator Kasthuri Venkateswaran -- has revealed that strains of the bacterial species Enterobacter bugandensis, a multi-drug resistant superbug, have been hitting the gym in the microgravity crucible. Though the situation at the ISS is slightly unsettling, holding funeral dirges would be an overkill, says Kumar Abishek.
The institute expects to complete both, phase-2 and 3 trials in India by the end of this year.
Phase-I clinical trials have revealed "excellent safety" of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd and their immunogenicity testing is now in progress, minister of state for health Ashwini Choubey informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
This new trial, a single-blind, randomised Phase II trial, will enrol 300 volunteers, with up to 240 of these volunteers receiving the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and the remainder a control meningitis vaccine, which has been shown to be safe in children but is expected to produce similar reactions, such as a sore arm.
'The challenge will be making sure its efficacy is high.' 'If a vaccine is only 50 to 60 per cent efficient, it's a double-edged sword.'
Given the recurring outbreaks in the last five years, the government is considering domestic manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies for treating Nipah virus infections and is in talks with Serum Institute of India, report Shine Jacob and Sohini Das.
Apart from the human body, human food will bear direct repercussions. From staples such as wheat, to coffee, dairy, and even the great Hilsa face the threat of reduced supply due to the extreme heat.
He is the first MD Anderson scientist to receive the world's most preeminent award for outstanding discoveries in the fields of life sciences and medicine.
India has covered enough population with vaccine and infection, but protein vaccines should remain available on payment basis for elderly and those with comorbidities.
He responded to criticism in certain circles following emergency use authorisation to the vaccine and said,"Indian companies do not deserve this backlash".
Responding to another question, Choubey said that the phase-I of clinical trials have revealed excellent safety of the two candidate vaccines indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research and Cadila Healthcare Ltd, and now their immunogenicity testing is in progress. Their phase II clinical trials are ongoing.
This year's Laureates have shown how the problem of global poverty can be tackled by breaking it down into a number of smaller - but more precise - questions at individual or group levels, he Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune under the ICMR has isolated the monkeypox virus from the clinical specimen of a patient, which can pave the way for development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, officials said on Wednesday.
State health minister Veena George said a meeting was held between the principal secretary of the health department and the Union health ministry earlier in the day and now the monoclonal antibody has arrived.
Fortis Healthcare on Thursday said it has inked a pact with the VPS Group to acquire Manesar-based Medeor Hospital for Rs 225 crore. The healthcare major said it has signed definitive agreements to acquire Medeor Hospital for an overall purchase consideration of Rs 225 crore. The hospital has a potential capacity of 350 beds and can be operationalised in a phased manner in around nine months, it added.
Currently, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate is going on in the United Kingdom, phase 3 clinical trial in Brazil and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in South Africa.
The government has ordered monoclonal antibody from Indian Council of Medical Research to treat the child. It is the only available anti-viral treatment for Nipah virus infection, though it has not been clinically proven yet.
Adults who stay well-hydrated appear to be healthier, develop fewer chronic conditions, such as heart and lung disease, and live longer than those who may not get sufficient fluids.
'Just put a patch on your arm and the vaccine can be absorbed by the body.'
According to government sources, the matter was discussed by the national expert group on vaccine administration for COVID-19 in its last meeting held on August 22.
The statement said that the antibody's development had been completed and that the institute was in the process of patenting the find 'and in the next stage, researchers will approach international companies to produce the antibody on a commercial scale'.
ICMR says it is following all globally accepted norms to fast-track vaccine and wants to 'cut red tape'.
The US Food and Drug Administration had in February approved Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine that works with just one dose for emergency use.
An expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Wednesday sought additional safety and efficacy data for COVID-19 vaccine candidates of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, after deliberating upon their applications seeking emergency use authorisation for the shots, official sources said.
Biological E has received approval for conducting phase II/III human clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine candidate Corbevax on children above five years and adolescents, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Friday.
The research would lead to a better understanding of metabolic reprogramming and aid the development of better therapeutics to deal with the viral pandemics, an institute spokesperson said on Wednesday.
'Not one single, but multiple trials are there to quote. However, these will be published as scientific manuscripts.' 'This includes integrative as well as standalone approaches in Covid mitigation.'
While Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh warned the yoga guru that the state government won't allow the sale of 'spurious' medicines, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma also said that the state government will not allow the sale of Patanjali's Ayurvedic formulation.
'This government did not have any plan for safety stocks of essential medicines.'
The vaccine candidate, ZyCoV-D, showed a "strong immune response" in animal studies, and the antibodies produced were able to completely neutralise the wild type virus, Zydus said. The 12 institutes have been asked by the ICMR to fast track clinical trials of the vaccine as it is being considered as one of the top priority projects which are being monitored at the topmost level of the government.
Bharat Biotech recruited 13,000 participants for the Phase-3 clinical trial of Covaxin. This is one of the largest efficacy trials held in the country.
The comments of the Congress leader came after ICMR DG Balram Bhargava's letter to Bharat Biotech and principal investigators of medical colleges to complete the trial procedure of indigenous COVID-19 vaccine in a fast track method so that results of a clinical trial can be launched by August 15.
Covaxin is being indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
In the trial, the vaccine will be given by the intramuscular route in two doses on day 0 and day 28.
While Ramdev claimed that Ayurved-based 'Coronil and Swasari' medicine have shown 100 per cent favourable results during clinical trials on COVID-19 infected patients except those on a life support system, the Ayush Ministry sought from the company detailed report on composition, testing and other data of the drugs.
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