Category: Covid -19

** Dharwad firm to manufacture Sputnik V

Dharwad-based Shilpa Biologicals Private Limited (SBPL) will manufacture Sputnik V vaccine at its production centre in Belur Industrial Area, near Dharwad.

It will be among the first production units of the Russian vaccine in India.

SBPL is an arm of Shilpa Medicare, one of the top suppliers of drugs in the country, established in 1987 in Raichur.

Sputnik V has been developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of Russia.

Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Laboratory entered into a partnership with Russian Direct Investment Fund for the vaccine in India.

** Volunteers from around the world rally to help tackle COVID-19 in Karnataka

Doctors living across the world — all alumni of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) from the 1992 batch — have now banded together with a coalition of volunteer groups to offer end-to-end COVID-19 management for patients in Karnataka, particularly in Bengaluru.

While the Karnataka COVID-19 Volunteers Team (KCVT), with over 500 members, has set up a helpline (080-47166115) which counsels patients, refers them to doctors for tele-consultation, helps in home management and to find hospital beds, Mercy Mission is operating two COVID-19 care centres and has a tie-up with the HBS Hospital in Shivajinagar for critical care. While the helpline and tele-consultation with doctors is available for patients across the State, other on ground facilities are in the city.

** ‘Oxygen on wheels’ in all districts

The State road transport corporations are ready to provide ‘Oxygen on Wheels’ services in all districts if private groups or NGOs come forward to sponsor oxygen concentrators and equipment required for providing oxygen inside buses, Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi said.

** IISc. vaccine, DRDO drug and OxyCare system are game changers: Sudhakar

Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar reviewed ongoing efforts at Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), which is developing a vaccine for COVID-19, and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that has developed a drug that prevents viral growth and a better oxygen management system. He hailed them as “game changers in the fight against COVID-19”.

Dr. Sudhakar visited DRDO facilities in the city on Friday where scientists appraised him of progress on 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug they are developing in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad. “Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence,” DRDO scientists said.

He was also apprised of the OxyCare system, an intelligent oxygen management system that reduces exposure of healthcare providers by eliminating manual adjustments to oxygen flow. The PM-CARES Fund will procure 1.5 lakh units of Oxycare System at a cost of ₹322.5 crore. It will be deployed across the country, DRDO scientists said.

* * Udupi: Basavaraj Bommai sets up Covid Care Centre on premises of his residence

Minister of state for home, law and parliamentary affairs, Basavaraj Bommai handed over 25 oxygen concentrators to Shiggaon public hospital that can help save the lives of Covid patients. A 50-bed hospital has been also inaugurated on the premises of his residence at Shiggaon.

** Mysuru-based firm develops drugs to fight Covid

At a time when the Covid second wave is raging, a Mysuru-based company has developed a new set of drugs to combat the Coronavirus, and the advantage is that these drugs can be administered orally. DRM Innovations, has used artificial intelligence to develop the drug. A team of specialists, led by Dr Manjunath B H, MD of DRM,

Dr Basappa, Chairman, Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Studies in Organic Chemistry, University of Mysore, and Prof Mahesh PA, Department of Respiratory Medicine, JSS Medical College and Hospital, has developed the drugs.