Nafithromycin: India’s 1st indigenous antibiotic
   Date :07-Dec-2024

Nafithromycin
 
NEW DELHI :
 
IN A ground breaking step for India’s biotechnology sector,Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh on Friday formally launched India’s own first indigenous antibiotic “Nafithromycin” to fight Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). It is only after 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over that our researchers received theright kind of supportto explore their potential, said  Dr Jitendra Singh and added that Modi’s personal intervention has made the task far more easier now. The antibiotic“Nafithromycin”has been developed with the support of “Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council” (BIRAC), a unit of the Department of Biotechnology andhasbeenbrought tomarketunder the trade name “Miqnaf” by pharma company “Wolkardt”.
 
This innovationisdesigned to treat Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP), a severe illness caused by drug-resistant bacteria, whichdisproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including childrenand the elderly as well as immune compromised hosts like Patients with Diabetes, Cancers etc.
 
Dr. Jitendra Singh described thethree-day treatment regimen of Nafithromycin as a game-changer inaddressingdrug-resistant pneumonia,a condition responsible for over twomillion deaths globally each year.India, which bears 23% of the world’sc ommunity pneumonia burden, faces challenges with existing treatments,including widespread resistance todrugs like azithromycin. The new antibiotic, developed by Wockhardt with support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council(BIRAC), is ten times more effectivethan current options and offersasafer,faster, and more tolerable solutionfor patients.