Coronavirus: PGIMER starts clinical trial to position immunomodulator Sepsivac as a drug
The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on Wednesday stated that it had started a clinical trial to "position immunomodulator Sepsivac as a drug." Dr. Ram Vishwakarma, the coordinator of a trial program for use of Sepsivac in coronavirus treatment, said that "Clinical trial has begun at PGIMER Chandigarh to position immunomodulator Sepsivac as a drug. We're doing another trial on asymptomatic COVID-19 patients. It'll be given to them as a vaccine."
He further added that "COVID-19 can linger in a patient for one month and therefore the third trial is on the patients who have been cured and released for quarantine. It will be given to them as vaccines so that they don't redevelop infection. So Sepsivac has vaccine as well as therapeutic role."
Adding, he said that "A large number of lives can be saved if its trials are successful. If it works, it'll take at least 3 months to be available for COVID-19 treatment. But we will still need other medicines."
Earlier, the PGIMER assessed the safety trial of Mycobacterium w (Mw) in four COVID-19 patients and found no short-term adverse effects of the drug in the pre-study phase. However, some media reports appeared regarding the successful vaccination/drug trials for the treatment of COVID-19 by PGIMER, Chandigarh.
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The doctors at PGIMER clarified that it was not a vaccine. Mw originally developed as an immunomodulator for leprosy acts through the toll-like receptor pathway and enhances host-T cell responses, PGIMER stated.
-PTC News
