Government News

In the middle of the havoc wreaked by second wave of the pandemic, AYUSH-64 has emerged as a ray of hope for the patients of mild and moderate COVID-19 infection. The scientists of reputed research institutions of the country have found that AYUSH 64, a poly herbal formulation developed by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of Ayush is useful in the treatment of asymptomatic, mild and moderate COVID-19 infection as an adjunct to standard care.

Drugs Controller General of India, DCGI, is notified that all implantable devices are treated as Drugs in the country. All the rules and regulations liable on the drugs are applicable on all implantable devices and other medical devices.

Dr. VG Somani, DCGI, is informed that all implantable devices and various medical devices like CT Scan equipment, MRI equipment, Defibrillators, PET equipments, Dialysis machines, Xray machines and Bone marrow cell separator are also regulated as drugs from April 1st 2021.

Defence Research and Development Organisation has developed SpO2 Blood Oxygen Saturation supplemental Oxygen Delivery System for soldiers posted at extreme high-altitude areas. Developed by Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory, Bengaluru of DRDO, the system delivers supplemental oxygen based on the SpO2 levels and prevents the person from sinking in to a state of Hypoxia, which is fatal in most cases, if sets in. This automatic system can also prove to be a boon during the current Covid-19 situation.

Vaccine Discovery Programme supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India under the Mission COVID Suraksha- The Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission, implemented by BIRAC, moves into clinical trials. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technologyhas announced that it has approved additional funding towards clinical studies of India's'first of its kind' mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine - HGCO19, developed by Pune-based biotechnology company Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.

Pharmacist India is following a comprehensive approach to tackle COVID-19 pandemic in a proactive and pre-emptive manner. In this context, as early as May 2020, India constituted a Task Force headed by Principal Scientific Advisor to encourage R&D for vaccine manufacture & constituted in August 2020 an Expert Group headed by Member, NITI to assist in roll out of the Covid vaccination programme. It was because of these strategies that India became the first country to have two “Made in India” Covid vaccines for domestic vaccination drive.

India bans exports of injection Remdesivir and Remdesivir API and all domestic manufactures of Remdesivir to display on their website, details of their stockists/ distributors to facilitate access to the drug.

India is witnessing a recent surge in COVID cases. As on 11.04.2021, there are 11.08 lakh active COVID cases and they are steadily increasing. This has led to a sudden spike in demand for Injection Remdesivir used in treatment of COVID patients. There is a potential of further increase in this demand in the coming days.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has delayed the implementation of track and trace system for export of pharmaceuticals to maintain the parent-child relationship in packaging levels and its uploading on Central portal till April 1, 2022 for both SSI (small scale industry) and non-SSI manufactured drugs.

Prior, the last date was extended till April 1, 2021 due to the ongoing situation of COVID-19. And again it is further extended for one year of time period.

ICMR reported that Covishield and Covaxin vaccines are effective against the UK and the Brazilian variants of coronavirus, and several laboratories are involved in work against South African strain. Addressing a weekly press conference of the Union health ministry, ICMR Director-General Balram Bhargava also said of 11,064 genome samples sequenced in the country, the UK variant of the virus was detected in 807, the South African variant in 47 and the Brazilian variant was found in one.