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Mort Walker wrote:^^^Absolutely. Ask Immy the Dimmy.
Interview/ Pankaj Patel, chairman, Zydus group
Currently, we are undergoing phase III study. We have to complete the dosing and then wait for 150 symptomatic Covid patients; then we unlock and come out with efficacy data. Our guesstimate is that we should be completing the trial in May. ZyCoV-D will be in the market between May and June.
The Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal and researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre(UNMC) have identified ‘Rapamycin’ as a drug that can be repurposed to treat Covid-19.
Currentlybeing used for patients having undergone organ transplantation and certain cancer patients, Rapamycin and its analogues are commonly available in India and abroad.
The research was conducted by Dr Amjad Husain, Principal Scientist, and Chief Executive Officer, Innovation and Incubation Center for Entrepreneurship (IICE), IISER Bhopal; and Dr Siddappa N Byrareddy, Associate Professor, Pharmacology, and Vice-Chair, Research, UNMC.
In a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal, Chemico-Biological Interactions, the researchers showed that the biochemical working of this drug molecule points to its promise in the treatment of Covid-19.
Amjad Husain, in a statement, said: “The development of a new drug is time-consuming and cannot be relied on as a solution in combating the immediate pandemic. Drug repurposing is an attractive solution, where, an existing drug used to treat another related or unrelated ailment may be tested against Covid-19.”
An example of such a repurposed drug is Remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat Hepatitis C infection. The drug has shown limited success in treating Covid-19 patients. Identification of more such drugs is important, given the scale of the pandemic. Rapamycin works differently from Remdesivir. While the latter targets the virus itself, Rapamycin targets the host proteins and may resist the infection.
“Using repurposed drug such as Rapamycin that targets mTOR, a central molecule affecting multiple signalling pathways, may yield a significant clinical benefit for the treatment of Covid-19,” added Dr Husain.
One of the main challenges in developing antiviral drugs for Covid-19 has been the extensive mutations that the virus undergoes. In addition, Rapamycin is known to reduce obesity through various pathways and this can help in mitigating the severity of Covid-19 effects in obese people.
Furthermore, Rapamycin is known to induce autophagy, a cellular recycling process that helps in eliminating the damaged proteins and delaying ageing. Given the connection between age and Covid mortality with more fatalities in older people, the anti-ageing properties of Rapamycin can have protective effects against Covid-10-induced morbidities.
Recently, another study published in The Lancet-Healthy Longevity, proposed the potential of Rapamycin analogues (rapalogs) to enhance resilience against SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Oravax owned by Nasdaq listed Oramed Pharmaceuticals and Gurgoan-based biotech Premas Biotech have announced the development of potential single dose oral COVID-19 vaccine.
Oravax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate which is a triple antigen virus like particle (VLP) consists three structural proteins of SARS-CoV2, unlike most other vaccines that are based on Spike (S) protein.
This, the company said, makes it a better candidate for protection across emerging mutations of the coronavirus.
"The oral delivery of the vaccine should allow for widescale inoculation and easier distribution of the vaccine without requiring an injection," Oravax said.
Oramed for years has been working on a potential human insulin in an oral formulation. Oral vaccines are not new, currently polio vaccine used in infant and child vaccination is given orally. Rotavirus vaccines are also given orally.
In a pilot animal study, the oral COVID-19 vaccine promoted both systemic immunity through Immunoglobulin G (IgG), the most common antibody in blood and bodily fluids that protects against viral infections, and Immunoglobulin A (IgA).
Oravax anticipates commencing a clinical study during the second quarter of 2021.
“An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, widescale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home. While ease of administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the case that a COVID-19 vaccine may be recommended annually like the standard flu shot,” said Nadav Kidron, CEO of Oramed.
Oravax was established in 2021 by Israel-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals, the largest shareholder in Oravax, along with Premas Biotech and certain other shareholders with a mission to bring an oral COVID-19 vaccine to the market.
With the Covid-19 surging across India again, anyone above 45 years will now be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine from April 1, Union minster Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday. He requested people entitled to get themselves registered to take the Covid-19 shot.
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That is AWESOME news. Thank you for sharing! I have been hoping for this to happen for some time now. This step will go long way in crushing this epidemic.putnanja wrote:Those above 45 years can get Covid-19 vaccine from April 1
With the Covid-19 surging across India again, anyone above 45 years will now be able to get the Covid-19 vaccine from April 1, Union minster Prakash Javadekar said on Tuesday. He requested people entitled to get themselves registered to take the Covid-19 shot.
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Pretty much every single country in the world has prioritized older people and those with co-morbidities for vaccinations, gradually opening them up for others as the vaccine supply increases. India is doing the same.manjgu wrote:they should have opened up 45+ from day 1 .... sat sun for 60 + rest 5 days 45+
how many 60+ are showing an immunity response to covishield. Which means body reacting to a foreign object .. if there is no reaction to vaccination then the exercise of injecting 60+ with covishield has been a failure. On the other hand covishield has shown immunity reaponse in younger population who have responded to vaccination with mild fever and a push back by a healthier body.nachiket wrote:Pretty much every single country in the world has prioritized older people and those with co-morbidities for vaccinations, gradually opening them up for others as the vaccine supply increases. India is doing the same.manjgu wrote:they should have opened up 45+ from day 1 .... sat sun for 60 + rest 5 days 45+
Santhanakrishnan
@sankrishmca
16h
Replying to
@chennaicorp
Don't lie many people in annanagar got vaccinated aged between 24-45
It happened in government camp
Alex James Murikan
@chennai123
16h
Replying to
@chennaicorp
Lol, today , in my apartment about 50 people got vaccinated from 18 year upwards by corporation of chennai with covaxin!! Probably they don’t Modi to know
This article says sameVaasavi Sashiraman
@vaasavis
16h
Replying to
@chennaicorp
Looks like the Corporation is giving one message on the outside and another on the inside. Several people I know between 18-45 have been vaccinated in multiple centers across Chennai
one more saying sameQuietly, Chennai civic clinics vaccinating those over 18
We have maintained a recognizable trend for 2-3 weeks now :Mort Walker wrote:^^^I was really hoping over 3M/day as there is a slight slowdown on Sat. and almost 500K on Sun.
Absolutely. TN has been lagging behind in absolute numbers compared to even States like Rajasthan with far less case load than it. For some reason the eligible population is not coming forward. So the Chennai Corporation decided to go to apartment complexes and set up vaccination camps. Based on the registrants they take out vaccines from the refrigerators kept at the public health centre, put them in an ice box and bring it in a van with para medical staff. Now ice box can at the most hold the ice without melting for two to three hours maximum. That is just about enough time for them to complete the process of vaccination. If there are vaccines left in the box there will always be the risk that the temperature within which the vaccines need to be preserved might not have been maintained even for a small period of time. So what do you do with the vaccines? Might as well administer them while the ice in the box hadn't melted, rather than throw them away on return because they might have lost their potency. Which is what had happened. By and large it has been administered to those above 45 years of age which in any case has now been opened up by the Government now.Suraj wrote:I support what TN is doing . While phased vaccination is a good approach, it has a limit when the very people targeted by the current phase refuse to show up . The smartest thing to do then is it so soft-expand eligibility and vaccinate as many others as possible.
The current high risk group may need more urgent vaccination, but if they don’t show up, the next best thing is to vaccinate those they come in touch with. Vaccinations are not zero sum - each vaccinated person enables lowering transmission rate,
nandakumarji, it is much more than that.nandakumar wrote: So what do you do with the vaccines? Might as well administer them while the ice in the box hadn't melted, rather than throw them away on return because they might have lost their potency. Which is what had happened.
The Arogya Setu app does not ask for any specific details for booking COVID vax appointments. I am 55+ and have booked an appointment for April 1st and have got a booking confirmation. No other details were asked for. No info on any comorbidity is asked by the Arogya Setu app during the vax booking process.sajo wrote:Registrations and appointment booking on COWIN for those 45+ and Without Comorbidities is still not possible. It will open only from 1st April. Hoping the capacity niggles as seen on March1 are resolved and we have a smooth transition to the next age bracket.
Strange, it was not allowing me and a few others to proceed without clicking on "Yes" for the below. For now those around me are ignoring this message before proceeding for registration.Anoop.G wrote:The Arogya Setu app does not ask for any specific details for booking COVID vax appointments. I am 55+ and have booked an appointment for April 1st and have got a booking confirmation. No other details were asked for. No info on any comorbidity is asked by the Arogya Setu app during the vax booking process.sajo wrote:Registrations and appointment booking on COWIN for those 45+ and Without Comorbidities is still not possible. It will open only from 1st April. Hoping the capacity niggles as seen on March1 are resolved and we have a smooth transition to the next age bracket.
MyGovIndia
@mygovindia
The #CoWIN System will be open for registration and booking of appointment of all people above 45 years of age, from 1st April 2021.
Onsite registration of such persons will also be permissible from April 1, 2021. #LargestVaccineDrive #IndiaFightsCorona
@MoHFW_INDIA
Thats a good news. As they say charity begins at home.