Clinical trial of Coronavirus herbal drug to begin at Bengaluru hospital

A herbal drug repurposed for Covid-19 will soon be tested on 45 mildly and moderately symptomatic patients in the city.

HCG Hospital is collaborating with ayurvedic drug maker Dyuthi Biosciences for the clinical trial in which three Bengaluru hospitals have shown interest.

Four Covid patients who were given the drug on a compassionate basis in the past two weeks are said to have become asymptomatic at the end of the day, and tested negative four days later.

They were given nine doses of three tablets at an interval of six hours between each tablet.

Dr Vishal Rao, co-author of the study and Associate Dean, Research and Academics, HCG, said the hospital was being helped by Elsevier, an international publisher of scientific journals, in the pursuit of a Covid drug.

“It’s easier to repurpose drugs than to invent new ones that would take years to hit the market,” he explained.

According to Dr Rao, they collaborated with a UK-based intensivist to repurpose the drug, especially herbs, and studied molecules that target the spike protein of SARS-Cov-2 or the ACE2 receptor. The spike protein is the tentacle that the novel coronavirus uses to enter the human body. An active ingredient in common drugs, such as paracetamol and complex oncology drugs, is one or the other herb. Certain herbs have anti-Covid properties, he said.

The UK-based intensivist said on the condition of anonymity: “The trial has three control arms with 15 patients each. The drug is effective in nine doses or three tablets. The patient’s symptoms went away in a day and s/he became negative at the end of four days.”

The first woman to take nine tablets for three days tested negative on the fourth day. “The package has 60 tablets, so we asked her to finish the course. All four patients tested negative on the fourth day and their symptoms drastically reduced in a day,” he added.