There is no doubt that COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives upside down and nobody knew it could bring such a catastrophic effect globally. COVID-19 outbreak is said to have originated from a wet market in Wuhan which is the capital city of Hubei province of China, its source is still not known and is a matter of controversy till date. Soon it started spreading to other countries like a wild fire, thanks to globalization. COVID 19 is an infectious disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus i.e. nCoV: novel coronavirus, which has the potential of attacking our immune system, affecting respiratory system and eventually causing death in severe cases. People with co-morbidities are more vulnerable and has high chances of mortality. This virus spreads so fast that an entire nation could get infected with in a few span of period if not cautious.

Government of India had imposed a nationwide lockdown on 3^rd week of March 2020 as a precautionary measure, which was eventually extended. This lockdown definitely helped in controlling the spread of disease to an extent in the initial stage, but got out of hands eventually. Today India stands third in global chart by surpassing other countries which were on the top list on COVID-19 total infected cases.

Global powers are working hand in hand on tackling this crisis, lots of researches and developments on pharmaceutical sectors and biotechnology area. COVAX, an initiative where Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), World Health Organization (WHO) are working together with vaccine manufacturing sectors of all countries for the development of COVID-19 vaccine. USA’s National Institute of Health and India’s ICMR (Dept. of Biotechnology) under Vaccine Action Program collaborate on vaccine trials. Vaccine project of Oxford University is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 is on its second phase of clinical trials and in India it would be manufactured by Pune’s Serum Institute of India in partnership with British drug company AstraZeneca.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic a lot of experiments has been done on administering drugs to patients, by giving drugs in combination prescribed for other diseases. Drugs used for WHO’s solidarity trials include Hydroxycholoquin (HCQ) which is an anti-malarial drug, Remdesivir which was develop for the treatment of Ebola virus, Lopinavir-Ritonavir for treatment of HIV-AIDS and Interferon beta 1a which is used for treatment of multiple sclerosis. All these are said to reduce the severity of the disease but are not scientifically proven treatments and has side effects as well. Later on HCQ was approved to be administered as prophylactic for frontline workers. Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) are being conducted in humans by grouping them into two- Experimental group would be administered with drug and Control group with placebo. Many pharmaceuticals started RCT-“FAITH” by Glenmark using Favipiravir and Umifenovir. Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) trail on Umifenovir. These trails are approved by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Recently many other drugs were given approval for trials like Dexamethasone, which is a corticosteroid used for treatment of inflammation and allergies and Itolizumab used for treatment of psoriasis, though its efficacy is still on check.

India’s vaccine candidates trial on human till date: Covaxin (Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research), ZyCoV-D (Zydus Cadila) and Covishield (Serum Institute of India under Oxford vaccine project)

But these vaccines are on its 2^nd or 3^rd phases and we need to wait until all the phases are completed successfully which would take few months and are expected to be available to all by first quarter of 2021. Until then we need to be safe by following our social responsibilities by wearing masks, using sanitizers and keeping social distance. Stay safe.