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.