The Nipah virus outbreak that was observed in Kerala was a nightmare, and has thrown several challenges that need to be addressed. Recalling the adverse effect of the outbreak, Dr. Chandni Sajeevan, professor and Emergency Medical Relief Head at Government Medical College, Kozhikode, said that everything came to a standstill and it hit the economy very badly.
Need for setting up clinical trial centres
In containment of this outbreak, Dr. R R Gangakhedkar, head of the Epidemiology division at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that the virus episode was a learning experience on their preparedness. The challenges faced during the Nipah virus outbreak has addressed the need for setting up clinical trial centres in the country and region, and further raise the levels of preparedness. He also admitted that the new drug development in India was still weak; thus, there was a need for government centres to set up a permanent unit to test the drugs. Considering this, the ICMR decided to set up a clinical trial platform at both the regional and national level to evaluate new drugs.
August 26-27
August 26 and August 27 will see a merging of all medical research councils of the region to propose the concept of setting up a regional clinical trial platform for research. Taking into account the Nipah virus outbreak, India will want to take a lead for monoclonal antibody testing to neutralize the virus, which will require samples. But, the samples will be fewer in India as the occurrences are few; thus requiring to take up samples from a country that has more prominence of the virus, like Bangladesh. The ICMR has established 11 Phase-I clinical trial units, and is considering on setting up another 4 Phase-II and Phase-III clinical trial units. Setting up such a regional platform will help resolve issues related to the emerging diseases in the region, rather than waiting for other developed countries to come and help with the interventions. This is one important measure that can also help in bringing down the cost of drugs and encourage the Make-In-India initiative.
One Health Centre in Nagpur
In addition to the above, a “One Health” centre will soon come up at Nagpur as part the ICMR-NIV effort, with an aim to address emerging zoonotic infections and study animal-human interface. “One Health” is an initiative that seeks greater integration of human and veterinary medicine in areas like infectious disease control and translational medical research. Dr. D T Mourya, the Director of ICMR, told The Indian Express that the centre will bring together experts from veterinary sciences, biotechnology, and other disciplines, towards better surveillance of infectious diseases in animals to anticipate emergence of new zoonoses and to protect humans.
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