Act-A or Access to covid-19 Tools accelerator
- October 3, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Act-A or Access to covid-19 Tools accelerator
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – Pursuit of a cure for covid-19
Concept –
- Act-A or Access to covid-19 Tools accelerator is a platform developed by the World Health Organization (who) to aid virus research; its “A” arm deals with therapeutics.
Monoclonal Antibodies
- In this, naturally occurring antibodies in humans are engineered in a laboratory and given as injectables at very early stages of infection.
- Certain mAb drugs such as immunomodulators, which work on the immune system and prevent a cytokine storm, which can result in hospitalisation and also death.
- Unlike other mAbs, these are administered on severely ill patients in advanced stages of the disease.
- Non-profits are quick to point out that they are costly in low- and middle-income countries.
- The high cost of mAb-based drugs can be explained by the fact that they are biologics. Unlike most drugs, which are made up of simple molecules synthesised from scratch, biologics are complex and larger molecules. They are easier to develop, but the process is expensive.
Antivirals
- considering the affordability and accessibility issues of this wonder drug, Doctors and health experts are desperately calling for the development of antivirals—a class of drugs which, if given early, can prevent multiplication of the virus inside the respiratory tact.
- Drugs like Tamiflu (oseltavimir) have proven effective against influenza viruses.
- As of now, Remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral initially developed for the treatment of Ebolavirus, is being widely used against sars-cov-2.
- Prescribed at early stages of infection, Remdesivir is the only antiviral officially part of the US’ covid-19 treatment protocol.
- India also recommends this drug but with riders, such as that it should only be given to high-risk patients.
- Reports of the drug being black-marketed and hoarded during the country’s second wave remain fresh. It is also expensive.
- Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are other antivirals rejected by who and subsequent trials; bothare now out of all major global treatment protocols.
- Approval of 2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2DG), an antiviral drug developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation, is also questionable, since it is not in official protocols.
To know about Monoclonal Antibody Therapy and antivirals, please click here.
Steroids –
- Corticosteroids were the first class of medicines to be approved by who for covid-19 treatment as early as September 2020. They do not act against the virus but come into play when a patient turns hypoxic, a condition in which oxygen supply to tissues is reduced due to an over-active immune system.
- However, the reckless prescription of these drugs during the recent wave in India, even for mild cases, caused a host of complications in patients.