Indian pharmas developing diabetes cure: Ramadoss

New Delhi, Aug 11: Indian pharmaceutical companies have launched drug discovery/development programmes for developing a cure for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and arthritis, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss informed the Upper House today.

In a written reply, Dr Ramadoss said leading Indian pharma companies including Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's Labs, Lupin and Zydus Cadila were among the companies engaged in clinical trial permission for their drugs.

Permission to conduct clinical trials (that is Phase I/II) which provide a picture about safety and efficacy profile of a new molecule, is given after critical examination of pre-clinical data by an experts panel.

"At every stage of clinical trial, prior approval is reuired.

Only after completion of all phases of clinical trials, approval for manufacture and market is granted. To avoid side effects, post-marketing surveillance (PMS) study is further required to be undertaken by the respective pharmaceutical companies," he added.

Regarding development of a poultry vaccine for bird flu, Dr Ramadoss said according to information received from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, a vaccine had been developed using H5N1 field strain virus isolated from recent outbreaks in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Following laboratory tests the indigenous vaccine would be made available and transfer the technology of vaccine production to those interested in commercial production having containment conditions required for handling such virus.

Replying to supplementaries, the Minister cited a news item in a daily claiming that two Jaipur-based dermatologists stating that permanent cure had been achieved while treating patients of psoriasis with antibiotic drugs such as penicillin and azithromycin.

"Large-scale clinical trials would be required to validate their claim using these routine antibiotics used in clinical practice," he told the questioner.

UNI