In Mumbai, Maharashtra, hospitals have started administering Tocilizumab to treat patients suffering from the coronavirus. This happens to be an expensive drug as it costs anywhere between Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 80,000.
The hospitals are faced with a high mortality rate. As a result, the health workers have started prescribing Tocilizumab to the patients. The administration of the drug depends on a person’s weight, round the clock oxygen support and CT scans for the critically ill. The medicine, ideally given to patients suffering from arthritis have been given to over 80 patients in KEM, Sion, Nair and Kasturba hospital.
In the wake of the coronavirus, countries across the world are gearing up in their research to find a potential drug or a vaccine to treat the coronavirus disease. A new study has found out that a combination of three antiviral drugs along with an immunity booster quickly treats COVID-19 patients. Even though researchers claim that the approach requires more time to be approved, it can still be a potential treatment for the infection. Dr Kwok-Yung at the Hong Kong University along with his colleagues reportedly tested the combination of HIV drug, Remdesvir with Ritonavir and Lopinavir, the general antiviral drug ribavirin and a multiple sclerosis drug beta interferon.
The patients under the study at Hong Kong University had mild to moderate symptoms. They were cured in a week after testing positive of COVID-19. Some medical practitioners have also advised treating the patients in the preliminary stage of the disease.
The researchers at Hong Kong University gave HIV drug combination while others were subjected to triple-drug therapy. According to the study published in the Lancet medical journal, the COVID-19 patients who were given just the HIV drugs took at least 12 days to heal from the disease while the ones who received the multitude of drugs tested negative of coronavirus in just seven days.
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