‘Unapproved’ drug from Australia to fight Nipah virus?

KOCHI: Is the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, already in possession of human monoclonal antibody (hmAb), considered to have the potential to reduce mortality among Nipah (NiV) patients? State health minister KK Shailaja, in her press briefing on Friday, claimed that 50 doses of the antibody, which has been tested on Hendra (similar to Nipah) patients in Australia, has already reached the hospital.


However, officials of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said the process to procure the antibody had been initiated and it would take a week. The antibody had been found to be effective on animals. The state was getting the drug for use on compassionate grounds, ICMR officials said.

“The Australian government has said that they will be able to send 50 doses of the antibody for NiV-positive people by next week. We are preparing a dossier for it,” said Dr Balram Bhargava, director general, ICMR. The process began after ICMR — the apex body for formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research — wrote to the Queensland government in Australia, he said.

Soumya Swaminathan, deputy director general, programmes, WHO, had a video conference with Kerala health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan and experts of National Council for Diseases Control (NCDC) in this regard.

“Drugs that are not approved can be tested out on compassionate grounds on humans. The antibody from Australia has been administered on people on compassionate grounds before and they survived,” said Sadanandan.