IICT, Cipla on the verge of finding Coronavirus vaccine

Hyderabad: Amid the Corona virus outbreak in the country which has already claimed three lives, the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and pharma giant Cipla are working together to find a vaccine. They are working to develop three vaccines.

Scientists from IICT said that drugs like Favipiravir, Remdesivir, and Baloxavir work very effectively against Corona virus. Leading pharma giant Cipla said if they can manufacture these drugs on an industrial scale then they can convert them into pills and make it available for everyone.

IICT director Dr Srihari Chandrasekhar, on 18 March, said clinical trials have been conducted for the three drugs. He said while Remdesivir has been developed by a pharma company named Gilead, there are no patent rights for Favipiravir which has been developed by a Japanese company. He also that Remdesivir has already been given to over 1,000 people in China. After the clinical trials, all drugs which were not developed fully due to various reasons were examined closely and it was concluded that these three drugs besides fighting other viruses can also fight Corona virus.

Speaking on the same, Cipla head doctor, Dr Hameed, said Remdesivir and Favipiravir will be ready within six to eight weeks. These drugs will be made available to everyone, he said. Later, with the permissions from the government, these will be made available rapidly. He also said that if everything goes accordingly, this process will be completed within six months. Dr Hameed said the chemicals required to make these medicines are available with the IICT.

It must be noted that earlier, in the 1980s, the IICT and Cipla had made HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral medicines at a very cheap rate.