DCGI approves Itolizumab for restricted emergency use in COVID-19 treatment

India’s drug regulator has approved Itolizumab, a medicine used to cure psoriasis for “restricted emergency use” to treat COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress, informed officials.

Dr V G Somani, approved monoclonal antibody injection Itolizumab, an already approved drug of Biocon for several years, for restricted emergency use. It is for the treatment of ‘cytokine’ release syndrome in moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome patients due to COVID-19, they said.

“The approval was given after its clinical trials on COVID-19 patients in India was found satisfactory by the expert committee comprising pulmonologists, pharmacologists and medical experts from AIIMS, among others, for treatment of cytokine release syndrome,” an official told PTI.

Written informed consent of each patient is required before the use of this drug, he said.