RIL SUBMITS A PROPOSAL FOR A POTENTIAL COVID DRUG

RIL SUBMITS A PROPOSAL FOR A POTENTIAL COVID DRUG

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Reliance Industries Ltd’s R&D arm has proposed the use of Niclosamide – the drug used to treat tapeworm infestation – for treating COVID-19 patients.

Concept :

• Niclosamide, a drug on the World Health Organisation’s list of essential medicines, has been used to treat tapeworm infestation for more than 50 years.
• The oral antiviral drug was also used to treat patients during the SARS outbreak of 2003-04.
• The drug regulator will now evaluate the proposal for public use.
• The company however did not say if it plans to manufacture the drug or would use it to treat COVID patients at hospitals run by the group.
• The Indian government has already given clearance for the Phase 2 clinical trials of Niclosamide in COVID-19 treatment in adult patients.

WHO Model List of Essential Medicines

• The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines , published by the World Health Organization (WHO), contains the medications considered to be most effective and safe to meet the most important needs in a health system.
• The list is frequently used by countries to help develop their own local lists of essential medicines.
• This includes countries in both the developed and developing world.
• The list is divided into core items and complementary items.The core items are deemed to be the most cost-effective options for key health problems and are usable with little additional health care resources.
• The complementary items either require additional infrastructure such as specially trained health care providers or diagnostic equipment or have a lower cost–benefit ratio.
• About 25% of items are in the complementary list.Some medications are listed as both core and complementary. While most medications on the list are available as generic products, being under patent does not preclude inclusion
• The first list was published in 1977 and included 208 medications.[8][2][9] The WHO updates the list every two years.
• The WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines has been updated every two years since 1977.
• The current versions are the 21st WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) and the 7th WHO Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc) updated in June 2019.