Sassoon gets the nod for BCG vaccine trial
Sassoon hospital will conduct the trials only on moderate COVID-19 patients; FILE PHOTO
Haffkine Institute, which gained some efficacy in its application to the novel coronavirus , given permission to run human trials
City-based BJMedical College (BJMC) and Sassoon General Hospitals (SGH) will be the first in the state to conduct trials for the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine in treatment of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that there is no evidence that the vaccine protects people from getting infected by COVID-19, preliminary studies carried out by researchers in Mumbai have found it effective in treating COVID-19 patients , said officials at BJMC and SGH.
The BCG vaccine is used to prevent meningitis. It was developed between 1908 and 1921, by French bacteriologists Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin, who gave the inoculation its name. The Haffkine Institute at Parel has received the permission to conduct the clinical trials of BCG, also an anti-tuberculosis vaccine to treat COVID-19 patients. This institute will conduct the trials at city-based BJ Medical College.
The officials of the Haffkine visited BJ Medical College on Sunday and two meetings and discussion have been held since. The permission for the trial was given by the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) to Haffkine Iinstitute. “On Thursday, we will have another discussion with the Haffkine experts to decide the actual number of patients that will be included in the trial and other details. There were preliminary studies carried out by researchers of Haffkine, which have shown effectiveness of the vaccine while treating the virus infected patients,” said Dr Tambe.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services, Pune region, informed that Maharashtra is the first state to receive permission to start clinical trials of BCG vaccines to treatment of COVID-19. “The initial research conducted by Haffkine has shown that people who received BCG vaccines were more immune to the virus, than those who did not. Based on these findings the researchers will carry out the trial in Pune, with a hypothesis that the vaccine be used to efficiently treat the COVID-19 patients,” he added.
City-based BJ
The BCG vaccine is used to prevent meningitis. It was developed between 1908 and 1921, by French bacteriologists Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin, who gave the inoculation its name. The Haffkine Institute at Parel has received the permission to conduct the clinical trials of BCG, also an anti-tuberculosis vaccine to treat COVID-19 patients. This institute will conduct the trials at city-based BJ Medical College.
Dr Murlidhar Tambe, dean of BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospitals, said the vaccine will be used as a therapeutic treatment and will be started from next week in the COVID-19 patients. “The trials will be conducted only on the moderate patients, keeping out the patients with severe or mild infection. We have decided to use the moderate patients only so that we can monitor the severity, duration of illness and hospitalisation, blood parameters and the outcome of treatment will be closely monitored,” he explained.
The officials of the Haffkine visited BJ Medical College on Sunday and two meetings and discussion have been held since. The permission for the trial was given by the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) to Haffkine Iinstitute. “On Thursday, we will have another discussion with the Haffkine experts to decide the actual number of patients that will be included in the trial and other details. There were preliminary studies carried out by researchers of Haffkine, which have shown effectiveness of the vaccine while treating the virus infected patients,” said Dr Tambe.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services, Pune region, informed that Maharashtra is the first state to receive permission to start clinical trials of BCG vaccines to treatment of COVID-19. “The initial research conducted by Haffkine has shown that people who received BCG vaccines were more immune to the virus, than those who did not. Based on these findings the researchers will carry out the trial in Pune, with a hypothesis that the vaccine be used to efficiently treat the COVID-19 patients,” he added.
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