It has been over six months now since COVID 19 moved the world with great surprise and disaster with almost more than half a million people dead and yet there is no cure to be found, just false promises.
Researchers worldwide are testing drugs to finally end this virus once and for patients to recover faster but there is still no luck. Many doctors prescribed the infected patients with different drugs to reduce the symptoms in the hope it goes away but those drugs have made them feel worse than before. Immunosuppressive drugs have caused an abnormal immune response to the virus. Fabiflu, a drug designed by Glenmark, was introduced to us a few months back and was said that clinical trial would be conducted on patients with mild or moderate symptoms and it is now in the market for 103 rupees.
Glenmark’s pricing of this new drug, Favipir, does not have the interests of the poor that are being affected by this virus the most. In June, the drug regulatory authority approved of this drug to be released in the market and for people to be treated finally. The Member of Parliament (MP) wanted the company to review the price point of their drug so common people could afford it. The same MP accused Glenmark of saying that this drug is also effective in comorbid conditions (conditions that happen to occur in the same patient at the same time) but that’s not what Fabiflu was designed for. After all this Glenmark then slashed the price down to 75 rupees but still, a 14-day treatment would cost 10,200 down from around 14,000 earlier.
Another way has been found but people are not very convinced with the method. There are plasma banks set up, that conduct plasma therapy to help patients but there are not donors ready to help despite the high recovery rate in India. Survivors antibodies would be taken which provides protection against the virus and transferred in the patient. This method has been approved for now as it's available anytime. Delhi, West Bengal, and Kerala have already started plasma banks and many others plan on following.
However, there is a shortage of the number of people willing to donate because they have been through a difficult recovery as well and most patients are terrified of visiting a hospital for a donation just after getting rid of the virus. Which is why the vice president at Chase India (a health research firm) said that spreading awareness about plasma therapy is the best way to go and how easy the process is while also saving many lives.
The recovery rate has increased by a huge margin with 23,672 just in the last 24 hours due to us being used to the unhygienic conditions, the resistance to COVID 19 is much better. Now India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world.
Writer: Anaya Parekh
22/07/2020
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