Chandigarh’s PGIMER finds use of leprosy drug effective for severely ill Covid patients

The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) has found an effective use for Mycobacterium w (Mw) leprosy drug in treating Covid-19 infected patients as the drug was found to be leaving no adverse events in the patients’ bodies.

After assessing the safety of Mw drug in severely infected Covid-19 patients, PGIMER concluded that preliminarily, improvement in clinical and radiological conditions of all the patients after the use of the drug was observed.

As per the study published on April 12, 2021, PGIMER researchers said that Mw drug, when combined with standard care in severely infected Covid patients, resulted in better clinical status on days 14 and 21, than those receiving routine care alone.

The immunomodulator Mw is a drug being evaluated by medical experts on Covid-19 patients like many other treatments, including remdesivir and tocilizumab. As per medical experts, Mw decreases mortality in patients with severe sepsis and thus, the research was conducted to check its use among Covid patients.

Researchers said that the Mw drug could potentially decrease cytokine storm in patients with Covid-19, and may thus be of effective use in decreasing mortality. It was also found that the severely infected Covid-19 patients, who were also suffering from co-morbidities, could be successfully managed without the need for mechanical ventilation.

Also, no adverse events of the drug were observed. On the basis of preliminary findings, the institute will conduct larger trials in various institutes and will recommend the use of the Mw drug to other institutes for treating severely ill Covid patients.