India Panning Out Different Tests to Produce a Solution to the COVID-19 Pandemic
In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, India gears up for variety of Laboratory tests, desperately trying for a remedy (synthetic or natural) to accelerate the treatments and eliminate the coronavirus.
The Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy ) that is currently held by Shripad Yesso Naik, will conduct trials along with the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) - India’s largest body for conducting research and development and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“Three popular ayurvedic herbs are chosen for trials - Ashwagandha, Guduchi, Mulethi and an ayurvedic anti-malaria medicine AYUSH-64. These drugs will be studied for their preventive properties against Covid-19 infections,” a senior ministry official said.
Let’s see some of the medicinal properties of these herbs:
Ashwagandha is a real potent regenerative tonic (Rasayana of Ayurveda) due to its multiple pharmacological actions like anti-stress, neuroprotective, antitumor, anti-arthritic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory etc.
Mulethi has antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective properties. Mulethi is useful in cough, sore throat, bronchitis, sexual weakness, skin problems, jaundice, hoarseness, vata dosha, ulcers etc. It has demulcent and expectorant properties.
Guduchi is a rasayana or rejuvenator tonic which has the ability to pacify all three types of doshas and balance them in the body. It balances vata dosha when taken with ghee, pitta with jaggery & kapha when taken with honey.
Ayush-64 is a patented medicine developed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS). After hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, showed efficacy in treating the coronavirus infection, the government plans to check Ayush-64 pill for the same.
“We will be finalising the four cites for the trials within this month. We are getting proposals from public and private hospitals in Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow and others for starting the trials. However, we are awaiting the nod from ICMR for finalising the geography,” the official said.
“These herbs and medicine will be administered to asymptomatic people who are quarantined or isolated, and frontline healthcare workers. Herbs will be given in the form of tablets made through their extracts,” the official added.
The trial will be held for 15 days in two categories -
1. standalone, where a patient will only consume ayurvedic pills and
2. add on, where allopathic drugs will be combined with the ayurvedic pills
The trials will be conducted according to the protocols designed by the interdisciplinary 17 member-AYUSH research and development task force, led by professor Bhushan Patwardhan, vice-chairman, University Grants Commission.
“The Ministry of AYUSH has also undertaken consultation with the Drug Controller General of India (of the) Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the primary body which approves clinical trials in India,” the official said.
COVID-KAVACH-ELISA
The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) announced a research collaboration with Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd (BBIL) to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The ICMR said in a statement that it had transferred the virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology, Pune (an ICMR institute) to BBIL.
The Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) has developed an immunological assay enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies that the body develops in response to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus. The test will detect IgG antibodies present in blood samples.
Dr Harsh Vardhan (Minister of Health and Family Welfare) said:
"The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of the population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection."
“This kit was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has high sensitivity and accuracy. Besides, it has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours.” Dr. Harsh Vardhan tweeted. He also tweeted to say that NIV had transferred the technology to Zydus Cadila for mass-scale production. The Drug Controller General had granted commercial production and marketing permission to Zydus Cadila, he added.
How does this Test runs?
Since the ELISA test is based on detection of antibodies, it can only help in knowing if the person has been previously infected by coronavirus. Since it detects antibodies, even people who have remained symptom-free (asymptomatic) during the entire course of the infection will test positive. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it takes one-three weeks for the antibodies to develop in response to infection. So, if a person who has been recently infected by the virus is tested during the window period (the time taken to develop antibodies) the result will turn out to be negative. But a repeat test after a couple of weeks will indicate the true infection status.
While the RT-PCR, which detects the RNA of the coronavirus, enables detection of current infection, it will not be useful if the testing is carried out days after the infection clears as the virus will no longer be present.
The company that has been licensed to manufacture the ELISA test will have about a month to make the tests available as collection of 30,000 blood samples taken randomly from people in the general population in the 75 hotspot districts will begin by the third week of May.
India, like most parts of the world, is in a race against time to procure efficacious results to fight against the worldwide pandemic- Coronavirus. Companies, health facilities, Healthcare professionals are joining hands, together making a dozen efforts to develop the immediate cure for this new and deadly respiratory pathogen. There, still lies beyond us-a long fight. Let’s be prepared to fight it alongside our heroes, honouring the rules laid to protect us.
