FDA approved drug 'Teicoplanin' found more effective in treating COVID -19 virus: IIT Delhi research 

Clinically approved drug "Teicoplanin" is a potential therapeutic option against COVID-19 and can be ten times more effective than several drugs being currently used, research by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has found.

The research by the institute's Kusuma School of Biological Science screened an assemblage of 23 approved drugs, which have shown leads towards being therapeutic options for coronavirus. "While the effect of Teicoplanin was compared with other important drugs in use, Teicoplanin was found to be 10-20 fold more effective than the chief drugs being used against SARS-CoV-2, such as Lopinavir and Hydroxychloroquine in our laboratory conditions," said Ashok Patel, Professor at IIT Delhi.

Patel, who led the research was also assisted by Dr Pradeep Sharma from AIIMS. The research has also been published in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. Teicoplanin is an FDA-approved glycopeptide antibiotic, which is regularly used for treating Gram-positive bacterial infections with low toxicity profile in humans. "Recently, there has been a clinical study carried out with Teicoplanin at Sapienza University in Rome. However, a more detailed clinical investigation is required on a large cohort, in different stages mild, moderate and critically ill patients to conclude the definite role of Teicoplanin against COVID-19," Patel said.

Globally, over 3.2 crore people have been infected with COVID-19, and the total number of deaths from the deadly virus now stands at over 9.80 lakh. India's coronavirus tally galloped past 60 lakh on Monday with 82,170 new cases, while the number of recoveries surged to 50.17 lakh after 74,893 more people recuperated, the Health Ministry said. The death toll from the pathogen climbed to 95,542 with 1,039 more deaths. There are 9,62,640 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), comprising 15.85 per cent of the caseload, according to the ministry data.