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june-july, 2020 | The Health
07
Dexamethasone proves
to be life-saving drug
A cheap and widely available drug can help save the
lives of patients severely ill with Covid-19
The low-dose steroid treatment
dexamethasone is a breakthrough
in the fight against the deadly
virus, UK experts say. And it could
be of enormous benefit in poorer
countries with high numbers of
Covid-19 patients.
The drug is part of the world’s
most prominent trial testing existing
treatments to see if they also work for
coronavirus. It cut the risk of death by a third
for patients on ventilators. For those on oxygen,
it cut deaths by a fifth.
Dexamethasone appears to help high-risk
patients. The drug is already used to reduce
inflammation in a range of other conditions,
including arthritis, asthma and some skin
conditions.
And it appears to help stop some of the
damage that can happen when the body’s
immune system goes into overdrive as it tries
to fight off coronavirus. This over-reaction, a
cytokine storm, can be deadly.
In the trial, led by a team from Oxford
University, about 2,000 hospital patients were
given dexamethasone and compared with
more than 4,000 who were not.
Chief investigator Prof Peter Horby said:
Game-based treatment
device cleared by FDA
Drug Topics online site states that officials
with the FDA have cleared the first game-based
digital therapeutic device for children with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD).
EndeavorRx, a prescription-only
game-based device, is indicated for use in
paediatric patients, ages 8-12, with primarily
inattentive or combined-type ADHD who have
demonstrated an attention issue.
EndeavorRx is intended for use as part
of a therapeutic program that may include
clinician-directed therapy, medication, and/or
educational programmes.
According to Akili Interactive, a key
component of ADHD for many children is on
the use of a captivating video game experience
to improve attention impairments, which is
what EndeavorRx uses.
The device is designed to directly target
and activate neural systems through sensory
stimuli and motor challenges to improve
cognitive functioning.
The FDA’s decision to grant clearance
was based on data from five clinical studies
in more than 600 paediatric patients with
ADHD. Results from the pivotal prospective,
randomised, controlled STARS-ADHD study
published in The Lancet Digital Health showed
that EndeavorRx improved objective measures
of attention in children with ADHD.
The study included 348 children diagnosed
with ADHD.
According to the study, after four weeks of
“This is the only drug so far that shows
to reduce mortality - and it reduces it
significantly. It’s a breakthrough.”
Lead researcher Prof Martin Landray said
the findings suggested one life could be saved
for every eight patients on a ventilator and
every 20-25 treated with oxygen.
Dexamethasone does not appear to help
people with milder symptoms of coronavirus
who do not need help with their breathing. It
has been used since the early 1960s to treat a
wide range of conditions, such as rheumatoid
arthritis and asthma.
treatment, one-third of children no longer had
a measurable attention deficit on at least one
measure of objective attention.
Some participants experienced non-serious
treatment-related adverse events with
EndeavorRx, including frustration, headache,
dizziness, emotional reaction, nausea or
aggression, stated the article.
The EndeavorRx treatment will be available
with a prescription to families soon, according
to Akili. The device will be released as the
centrepiece of the Endeavor Care Program,
which includes the EndeavorRx treatment and
Akili Care, a mobile tracking app and personal
support services for caregivers.
Researchers from the
Institute of Advanced Study
in Science and Technology
(IASST), Guwahati, India,
have designed a robust fully
automated software-based
solution using Pap smear images
to detect abnormal growth
or development of tissues in
the cervix.
According to Health Economic
Times, their work was recently
published in the journal
Briefs
New cell therapy lessens
complications
The University Hospital Regensburg and Charité
- Universitätsmedizin Berlin has demonstrated the
safety of new cell therapy approaches for use in
kidney transplant recipients through an international
study.
Medicalxpress news report states, transplant
recipients were shown to require lower levels of
immunosuppression to prevent organ rejection.
Transplant recipients usually receive
immunosuppressants to prevent organ rejection.
However, these drugs cannot provide a guarantee that
rejection will not occur at a later stage.
Cipla expands partnership with
Roche Pharma to improve access for
oncology medicines
Pharmaceutical giants Cipla and Roche Products
India said they have agreed to provide better access
to innovative medicines for patients in India.
Health Economic Times reported, the
pharmaceutical companies agreed to have Cipla
responsible for the marketing and distribution
of Roche Pharma’s key trademark oncology drugs
Trastuzumab (Herclon), Bevacizumab (Avastin) and
Rituximab (Ristova).
“Enabling access to high-quality life-saving
treatments is core to our purpose of ‘Caring for
Life.’ We are pleased to strengthen our partnership
with Roche towards bringing innovative oncology
medications to India,” said Nikhil Chopra, Executive
Vice President and CEO for India Business at Cipla.
US withdraws use of
hydroxychloroquine
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
withdrawn emergency use of the anti-malarial drug
hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus
The FDA said that new evidence from clinical trials
meant that it was no longer reasonable to believe that
the drug would produce an antiviral effect.
Referring to the BBC News report, Trump said
that he had previously taken the drug preventatively
with no side effects. Trials around the world were
temporarily derailed when a study published in The
Lancet claimed the drug increased fatalities and heart
problems in some patients.
New safety pen needle
for providing full doses
A new safety pen needle provides health care
professionals, caregivers, and patients who are selfinjecting
with protection from accidental needlestick
injuries, while ensuring the full dose is delivered,
according to manufacturer Owen Mumford.
Passive safety needle pens have been reported to
make it challenging to deliver a consistent standard
of care.
Pharmacy Times report states, Owen Mumford’s
Unifine® SafeControl® safety pen needle is designed
to prevent accidental needlestick injuries and provides
users with confidence that the whole dose was
delivered. — The Health
Software to identify cervical cancer
‘Tissue and Cell’.
In India, cervical cancer is one
of the most prevalent diseases
among women, more so among
women in North-East India. With
the unavailability of adequate
treatment facilities, patients have
to move to urban cities, mainly
New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Pap Smear is the most popular
technique for early diagnosis
of cervical cancer, stated in the
news report. Diagnosis is made
by carefully evaluating the
slides prepared from the smear
collections, under a microscope.
In India, the slides
are prepared using two
methods: conventional as well
as Liquid Based Cytology (LBC).
The group adopted the
Bethesda system for pap smear
diagnosis. The team then took
two artificial intelligence (AI)
approaches — Machine Learning
and Deep Learning.