Ahmedabad: Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a Gujarat-based pharma company, on Saturday launched Risorine, the first indigenously prepared drug for treatment of tuberculosis in the country.
"With the launch of Risorine, which is world`s first boosted Rifampicin containing fixed dose combination, it promises to alter the way tuberculosis is treated at a global level," Cadila Pharma Chairman Indravada Modi told reporters here.
"Tuberculosis is a major cause of many illnesses and deaths worldwide. Globally, 9.2 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths from TB occurred in 2006," Modi said.
"India is home to over 3.4 million tuberculosis patients which is about one fifth of the global figure, which makes it the most TB prevalent country," he said adding in the given situation, launch of this new drug is an endeavour to
combat tuberculosis in a more efficient and cost effective manner.
"In a multi centric trial conducted across the country in patients with radiologically confirmed diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, more than 90 percent of the patients treated with Risorine were cured of tuberculosis with
comparatively lesser side effects and better safety profile," said Dr Naresh Patel, a consultant scientist of Cadila.
He said that globally, last drug discovered for the treatment of tuberculosis was in 1963 and subsequently, Risorine is the only drug discovered by Cadila for the treatment of TB.According to him, the huge number of tuberculosis cases detected annually in India can definitely be checked and cost effective solution be provided with the help of Risorine.
Risorine is the outcome of public private partnership (PPP) between institute of integrative medicine, A Jammu-based institute of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Cadila Pharma Ltd.
Bureau Report