Kerala-based Pankajakasthuri – developed drug gets nod for clinical trials on Covid-19 patients in Medical Colleges in India

According to a report , an ayurvedic drug developed by Kerala-based Pankajakasthuri herbal research foundation and effectively used for viral fevers, acute viral bronchitis and other respiratory infections will now be tested as a potential medicine for Covid-19 in medical colleges in India. The medicine called  Zingivir-H tablet, used for treating respiratory infections, has earned nod from The clinical trial registry of India (CTRI) for the clinical trials on adults tested positive for Covid-19.

“Our scientific validations have shown that this drug has strong anti-viral properties and is effective against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza virus. The RSV is an RNA virus and we expect that it will be effective against Covid-19, which is also an RNA virus,” said Dr J Hareendran Nair, Padma Shri awardee and formulator of the drug , reports Times of India.

Dr Nair said that several medical colleges have approved the clinical trials through their ethical committees. “Some of them have already started trials and the first results are expected to be available by the second week of May,” he said.

He said that the in vitro experiments done at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology have proven that there are no side-effects in the human cell.