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| PM to unveil new TB drug next week |
| Saubhadro Chatterji & Joe C Mathew / New Delhi Dec 18, 2009, 00:32 IST |
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unveil a new anti-tuberculosis (TB) drug developed by Indian scientists next week.
 The drug, known to be more effective than existing therapies, has been developed by Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM), Jammu, after 12 years of research.
Ahmedabad-based Cadila Pharmaceuticals will market the medicine under the brand name “Risorine”.
According to Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan, “Risorine will not be a stand-alone medicine. But if given along with Rifampicin—the key anti-TB drug—it would act as a catalyst to enhance the capacity of Rifampicin. In effect, the patient will require lesser doses of Rifampicin and the treatment would not take the usual long course.”
TB is a major public health problem in the country and India accounts for one-fifth of the global TB incident cases. According to World Health Organization figures, each year 2 million people in India develop TB, of which around 870,000 cases are infectious. It is estimated that TB accounts for around 330,000 death every year in the country.
According to officials, the decision to have PM unveil the drug signifies the huge public health problem the new drug attempts to address.
IIIM, a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), developed Risorine as a combination of TB drugs Isoniazid and Rfampicin and piperine (extracts of black pepper). The scientists found that the combination enhances the bio-activity of both the TB drugs and therefore reduces the need for high doses.
“The dosage comes down, the efficacy increases and the patient gets cured in a shorter span of treatment”, a CSIR scientist said.
Cadila expects Risorine to boost its TB medicine business in a major way.
According to Cadila officials, the company expects sales revenues from Risorine to be around Rs 80 crore in two years.
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