Too early for comparisons between Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir in COVID-19 treatment: DG, CSIR

New Delhi [India], May 5 (ANI): It is too early to say whether Hydroxychloroquine or Remdesivir works better against COVID-19, as it can be ascertained only after conducting trials, according to the Director-General (DG) of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Shekhar C Mande.
"Comparison between Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir is not right because we do not know the efficacy of both of them till now. Which one is better can only be ascertained after trials," Mande told ANI here.
"The trials have begun for many medicines, but the early results, which can show the way ahead, will likely be in our hands in the coming two-three weeks," he added.
He further said that even the FDA, in the United States, has given approval to Remdesivir in a very limited manner, "it is not a blanket approval that anyone can take it."
Mande said that he had held a meeting with the Union Health Minister a day earlier.
"We told the Union Minister three things mainly, the first that we have sequenced 53 viruses till date and that we will conduct the same of 500-100 more shortly. The second thing we told him was that the MW trials have started and its results will be coming in soon. Thirdly, we informed him of the updates regarding drugs like Remdesevir," he said.
He added that the Council had approached Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting clinical trials with drugs like Favipiravir, Zinc gluconate and Arbidol.
"Yesterday we had approach DCGI for trials on convalescent plasma method. People who have recovered from the viral disease have antibody circulating in their plasma, those trials are also set to begin," he further said.
India registered the biggest jump in numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, with 3,900 new cases and 195 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India reached 46,433, including 1,568 deaths.
According to the latest update by the MoHFW, 12,727 patients in the country have been cured and discharged, or have migrated, as of today morning. At present, there are 32,138 active cases in the country. (ANI)