DCGI grants emergency use approval to Zydus Cadila’s ‘Virafin’

New Delhi: The Drugs Controller General of India or DCGI on Friday granted emergency use approval for Zydus Cadila’s Pegylated Interferon alpha-2b, ‘Virafin’, for treating moderate COVID-19 infection in adults.

According to the pharmaceutical firm, a single dose of the anti-viral Virafin administered subcutaneously early on shows significant clinical and virological improvement in moderate COVID-19 adult patients.

“91.5 per cent of patients treated with PegIFN were RT-PCR negative by day 7,” the pharma major mentioned on its Twitter account.

The firm also says that the treatment significantly reduces the hours of supplemental oxygen required for COVID-19 patients.

The news comes as a bit of relief as the country continues to battle the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. India on Friday reported more than 3.32 lakh new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours – a pandemic record.

A total of 3,32,730 new coronavirus cases pushed India’s caseload to 1,62,63,695 with 24,28,616 active cases. The overall death toll is at 1,86,920 with the addition of a record 2,263 new fatalities.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has now fallen to 83.92 per cent with the case fatality rate being at 1.15 per cent. Recoveries stand at 1,36,48,159.