The Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) program, a CSIR-led Team India consortium is leading the way in bringing open source collaboration techniques to drug research and health care. Their mission is to hasten the development of drugs and treatments for tropical diseases which have not gotten adequate attention from the "closed door" pharmaceutical industry.
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Genome mapping
NEW DELHI: The government's Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) initiative released the results of its ‘Connect 2 Decode' (C2D) project to re-annotate the biological and genetic information relating to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb) genome, at a conference here on Sunday.
This is the first time that a comprehensive mapping of the Mtb genome has been compiled, verified and made publicly available. C2D's findings may contain critical data to unlock previously undiscovered details of tuberculosis (TB); resulting in development opportunities for urgently needed new TB drugs in India and other developing countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1.7 million people die annually from TB and that in some parts of the world, one in four people with TB has a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs regimens. Despite this public health emergency, TB research funding, particularly for new drugs, remains alarmingly inadequate.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/12/stories/2010041257292000.htm
This is the first time that a comprehensive mapping of the Mtb genome has been compiled, verified and made publicly available. C2D's findings may contain critical data to unlock previously undiscovered details of tuberculosis (TB); resulting in development opportunities for urgently needed new TB drugs in India and other developing countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1.7 million people die annually from TB and that in some parts of the world, one in four people with TB has a form of the disease that can no longer be treated with standard drugs regimens. Despite this public health emergency, TB research funding, particularly for new drugs, remains alarmingly inadequate.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/12/stories/2010041257292000.htm
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
India, Tbc & Malnutrition
Pointing to the malnutrition figures provided by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau, which says 33 per cent of the population, including 50 per cent of scheduled tribes and 60 per cent of scheduled castes, suffer from chronic under-nutrition, Dr. Sen wondered what prevented the administration from addressing this situation in regions not affected by Maoist presence.
Referring to a long-term study undertaken by a small non-governmental organisation, Jan Swarth Sahyog, which functions from the Ganiyari village in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, he said the people in the region suffer from chronic malnutrition and malnutrition-related diseases like malaria and pulmonary tuberculosis during the period of August to November each year.
“There is no Maoist in this area. So the government argument that Maoist violence is responsible for the terrible level of under-development, poverty and inequity does not hold here…if body mass index is monitored on a monthly basis, there is a dip of BMI when rice harvest from the previous year runs out…The starvation leads to low immunity of the body and so malaria sets in. Also 95 per cent of the pulmonary tuberculosis cases have been found with BMI less than 18.5,” Dr. Sen said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article394024.ece
Referring to a long-term study undertaken by a small non-governmental organisation, Jan Swarth Sahyog, which functions from the Ganiyari village in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district, he said the people in the region suffer from chronic malnutrition and malnutrition-related diseases like malaria and pulmonary tuberculosis during the period of August to November each year.
“There is no Maoist in this area. So the government argument that Maoist violence is responsible for the terrible level of under-development, poverty and inequity does not hold here…if body mass index is monitored on a monthly basis, there is a dip of BMI when rice harvest from the previous year runs out…The starvation leads to low immunity of the body and so malaria sets in. Also 95 per cent of the pulmonary tuberculosis cases have been found with BMI less than 18.5,” Dr. Sen said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article394024.ece
Thursday, 8 April 2010
India's Tuberculosis Program Provides Hope to Millions
April 7, 2010
India has one of the most severe burdens of tuberculosis in the world, accounting for one-fifth of the global incidence. TB is India's leading cause of adult illness and death from a communicable disease. Most of those infected are 15- to 59-year-old adults, the most economically productive segment of society.
In 1993, the Indian Government began to treat tuberculosis patients with the World Health Organization-recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS). Left on their own, many TB patients fail to take the entire regimen of medication, contributing to the spread of drug-resistant TB for which treatment is long, difficult and expensive. Under DOTS, healthcare workers observe patients as they take their medicine.
More than one billion people covered by DOTS Strategy
In 1997 the Government formally launched the DOTS strategy nationwide. The first World Bank credit (1997- 2005) allowed rapid expansion of the DOTS strategy throughout the country. By providing free diagnostic and treatment services through public or non-public institutions, the project ensured the availability of TB diagnosis and treatment to all citizens regardless of their economic status. Full nationwide coverage of the DOTS strategy was achieved in March 2006, covering over one billion people.
"In the earlier TB control program, patients were good with collecting medicines, but we could not ensure that they took them. Now these medicines are administered at the clinic and its several satellite centers, thus ensuring that patients actually do take their medicines," said Dr. Ravinder Verma, Medical Officer In-charge, at a government Chest Clinic and HIV Center in New Delhi.
Detection and cure rates increased dramatically
The results have been dramatic. Diagnosis is far more accurate. While x-rays were used to detect the disease earlier, the sputum analysis test has increased detection levels from 30% to 70% at the national level, achieving global targets. Between 1997 and 2008, more than 9.5 million people suffering from TB were diagnosed and placed on treatment, thus saving more than 1.7 million additional lives.
Cure rates for those placed on treatment have also increased dramatically - tripling from 25% in 1997 to 86% in 2009, exceeding the global target. As a result, deaths from the disease were cut sevenfold - from 29% in 1997 to 4% in 2008.
Another key reason for the success is that the entire DOTS program is decentralized. Diagnosis done in the villages rather than in district hospitals. Quality-assured diagnostic facilities are available through more than 12,000 microscopy centers.
Moreover, more than 300,000 local health workers or trained community volunteers ensure that patients adhere to their drug regimen. Associations of medical professionals are promoting international standards for TB care. Also participating are over 250 medical colleges and some 2,500 NGOs.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SMAR-84A9DH?OpenDocument
India has one of the most severe burdens of tuberculosis in the world, accounting for one-fifth of the global incidence. TB is India's leading cause of adult illness and death from a communicable disease. Most of those infected are 15- to 59-year-old adults, the most economically productive segment of society.
In 1993, the Indian Government began to treat tuberculosis patients with the World Health Organization-recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS). Left on their own, many TB patients fail to take the entire regimen of medication, contributing to the spread of drug-resistant TB for which treatment is long, difficult and expensive. Under DOTS, healthcare workers observe patients as they take their medicine.
More than one billion people covered by DOTS Strategy
In 1997 the Government formally launched the DOTS strategy nationwide. The first World Bank credit (1997- 2005) allowed rapid expansion of the DOTS strategy throughout the country. By providing free diagnostic and treatment services through public or non-public institutions, the project ensured the availability of TB diagnosis and treatment to all citizens regardless of their economic status. Full nationwide coverage of the DOTS strategy was achieved in March 2006, covering over one billion people.
"In the earlier TB control program, patients were good with collecting medicines, but we could not ensure that they took them. Now these medicines are administered at the clinic and its several satellite centers, thus ensuring that patients actually do take their medicines," said Dr. Ravinder Verma, Medical Officer In-charge, at a government Chest Clinic and HIV Center in New Delhi.
Detection and cure rates increased dramatically
The results have been dramatic. Diagnosis is far more accurate. While x-rays were used to detect the disease earlier, the sputum analysis test has increased detection levels from 30% to 70% at the national level, achieving global targets. Between 1997 and 2008, more than 9.5 million people suffering from TB were diagnosed and placed on treatment, thus saving more than 1.7 million additional lives.
Cure rates for those placed on treatment have also increased dramatically - tripling from 25% in 1997 to 86% in 2009, exceeding the global target. As a result, deaths from the disease were cut sevenfold - from 29% in 1997 to 4% in 2008.
Another key reason for the success is that the entire DOTS program is decentralized. Diagnosis done in the villages rather than in district hospitals. Quality-assured diagnostic facilities are available through more than 12,000 microscopy centers.
Moreover, more than 300,000 local health workers or trained community volunteers ensure that patients adhere to their drug regimen. Associations of medical professionals are promoting international standards for TB care. Also participating are over 250 medical colleges and some 2,500 NGOs.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SMAR-84A9DH?OpenDocument
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