Chandigarh(Punjab): Anti-leprosy vaccine Mycobacterium w (Mw) showed effective results on Covid-19 patients during a trial conducted at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
Four patients who were administered 0.3 ml Mw vaccine for three consecutive days showed fast recovery.
"No side effects were observed when the drug was tested on leprosy, tuberculosis and pneumonia patients in the past. AIIMS Delhi and AIIMS Bhopal will also conduct a multicenter clinical trial of the same," said the director, Professor Jagtram.
"The vaccines are being tested on four corona patients and it will be soon be tested on other patients also," he added.
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Professor P.G. Ritesh Aggarwal said, "Patients who were selected for the trials were kept on oxygen. When the virus enters the human body, defence cells become active and fight against the virus. If the health of the patient deteriorates, then they are given immunomodulatory drugs which enhances the immunity power. To increase the resistance power, patients are given MW vaccine. Now in further trials, we have to see how much oxygen will be required during the treatment. One will be injected with the Mw drug and the rest will be administered with plain water. All the patients will be closely monitored in case they develop any adverse side effect".
"Safety trials have been done on many patients. Now we have to see much how is this drug effective in reducing the mortality rate. We also have to see how much days it takes for a patient to recover, how much drug is to be given. This can be ascertained only once the trial is completed," said H.O.D. of Pulmonary Department Pro. Digambar Behera.
