New Delhi, July 14:  The Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) gave approval to Bengaluru-based Biocon's Itolizumab, a drug used to cure skin ailment psoriasis, for "restricted emergency use" to treat coronavirus patients last week. According to an India Today report, Biocon shared that the approval by DGCI was on the basis of its clinical trials on only 30 patients across four centres.

The company further mentioned that  20 of the 30 patients, who had received the drug during the clinical trials, showed significant improvement. The trials had started in May and were carried out at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital and All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi and at King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and BYL Nair Hospital in Mumbai.

Biocon Biologics India Ltd informed that it will ramp up its capacity to produce itolizumab to avoid any shortage of the drug for the treatment of a critical COVID-19 symptom called cytokine storm, Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said on Monday. Biocon Gets DCGI Nod for Use of Itolizumab for Treatment of COVID-19 Patients.

Biocon, a domestic biopharmaceutical company, has been manufacturing and marketing Itolizumab, a monoclonal antibody drug, for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis since 2013 under the brand name Alzumab, the health ministry informed on Saturday. In a release published by the company, Biocon said that itolizumab significantly reduced mortality in patients hospitalised with COVID-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 14, 2020 10:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).