Tag: Indian Healthcare

COVID-19 Medical Equipments Medicine & Health

New biomaterial may repair tissue damage from heart attack

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date February 1, 2023
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Scientists have developed a new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously, reduces inflammation in tissue and that could be used to repair the damage to cardiac tissue resulting from a heart attack.

Scientists have developed a new biomaterial that can be injected intravenously, reduces inflammation in tissue and that could be used to repair the damage to cardiac tissue resulting from a heart attack. The researchers at the University of California (UC) San Diego, US, also provided proof of concept in a rodent model that the biomaterial could be beneficial to patients with traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension, the study said. The biomaterial was tested and proven effective in treating tissue damage caused by heart attacks in both rodent and large animal models, according to the study.

“This biomaterial allows for treating damaged tissue from the inside out,” said Karen Christman, a professor at UC San Diego, and the lead researcher on the team that developed the material.

“It’s a new approach to regenerative engineering,” said Christman.

A study on the safety and efficacy of the biomaterial in human subjects could start within one to two years, Christman said.

The study is published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

After a heart attack, scar tissue develops, which diminishes muscle function and can lead to congestive heart failure. There is no established treatment for repairing the resulting damage to cardiac tissue that follows a heart attack.

“Coronary artery disease, acute myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure continue to be the most burdensome public health problems affecting our society today,” said Dr. Ryan R. Reeves, a physician in the UC San Diego Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.

“As an interventional cardiologist, who treats patients with coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure on a daily basis, I would love to have another therapy to improve patient outcomes and reduce debilitating symptoms,” said Reeves.

The team wanted to develop a treatment that could be administered immediately after a heart attack. This meant developing a biomaterial that could be infused into a blood vessel in the heart at the same time as other treatments such as angioplasty or a stent, or injected intravenously, the study said.

“We sought to design a biomaterial therapy that could be delivered to difficult-to-access organs and tissues, and we came up with the method to take advantage of the bloodstream – the vessels that already supply blood to these organs and tissues,” said Martin Spang, the paper’s first author.

According to the study, one advantage of the new biomaterial is that it gets evenly distributed throughout damaged tissue, because it is infused or injected intravenously.

Researchers in Christman’s lab started with the hydrogel they developed, which was proven to be compatible with blood injections as part of safety trials. But the particle size in the hydrogel was too big to target leaky blood vessels, the study said.

Spang, then a PhD student in Christman’s lab, solved this issue by putting the liquid precursor of the hydrogel through a centrifuge, which allowed for sifting out bigger particles and keeping only nano-sized particles, the study said.

The resulting material was put through dialysis and sterile filtering before being freeze dried. Adding sterile water to the final powder results in a biomaterial that can be injected intravenously or infused into a coronary artery in the heart, the study said.

Researchers then tested the biomaterial on a rodent model of heart attacks. They expected the material to pass through the blood vessels and into the tissue because gaps develop between endothelial cells in blood vessels after a heart attack, the study said.

But something else happened.

The biomaterial bound to those cells, closing the gaps and accelerating healing of the blood vessels, reducing inflammation as a result. Researchers tested the biomaterial in a porcine model of heart attack as well, with similar results, the study said.

The team also successfully tested the hypothesis that the same biomaterial could help target other types of inflammation in rat models of traumatic brain injury and pulmonary arterial hypertension. Christman’s lab will undertake several preclinical studies for these conditions, the study said.

Ayurvedic remedies to improve eye health

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 31, 2023
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January is Glaucoma Awareness Month and for the uninitiated, glaucoma may cause visual impairment due to optic nerve dysfunction, which is essential for communication between the brain and the eyes however, Ayurvedic experts believe that with the aid of Ayurveda, this serious issue can be stopped from worsening and there are increased chances of curing the long-term illness. As per some experts, Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medicine system, offers various simple remedies to maintain healthy eyes.

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Mahendar Singh Basu, Ayurvedic Eye Specialist and Founder of Dr. Basu Eye Hospital, shared, “According to Ayurveda, you should gently wash your eyes in the morning with cold water while holding some water in your mouth. You might also use rosewater or gulaab-jal, which is known to have cooling effects. Additionally, medicated ghee can be applied to the eyes in Netra Basti, an ayurvedic therapy. To perform this remedy, you need to lie down, and when a dough structure resembling a well is created around the eye, pour the ghee on top of it. Your eyes’ toxins will be removed by doing it.”

He added, “Tratak Karma, a meditation in front of a candle in a dark room or gazing at a point for a short duration, improves your vision. The tratak method is beneficial in treating a variety of eye ailments by eliminating dullness and a sluggish demeanour, according to ancient Ayurvedic teachings. You can also use cucumber cotton pads soaked with fresh goat’s milk to cool eye patches. When put on top of the eyes, it has a cooling effect and refreshes them completely. Moreover, Triphala, a potent herb concoction that combines three fruits – Amla, Bhibitaki and Haritaki is recommended by Ayurveda to cure Glaucoma. It can be applied through eye drops or ingested, and it helps in reducing eye strain, redness and swelling.”

Asserting that Ayurveda aims to manage health concerns from their root, Dr Yogini Patil, BAMS and Nutritionist at LivLong, insisted that while this may take considerable time to show results, the effect is long-lasting and comprehensively rejuvenating. She suggested:

● Applications of “PratimarshNasya” daily (the procedure in which medicines are applied through the nasal cavity) cleanses shirostrotas thus preventing eye diseases.

● “PadaAbhyanga” or foot massage with herbal oils is beneficial for good vision and eye health.

● Daily application of “NetraAnjan” (medicated kajal) as a “dincharya” is the best ophthalmic medicine to prevent eye diseases.

● Eating foods rich in Vitamin A such as carrots and leafy greens is also beneficial for maintaining healthy eyes.

● Practicing yoga asanas such as Shirshasana and Trataka can also improve eyesight and reduce stress on the eyes.

● A good, balanced mental status and 6-8 hours of sound sleep is the key to better eye health.

Note: It is always essential to consult with an Ayurvedic practitioner before indulging in any new treatment regimen.

Long Covid might teach us how to prevent Alzheimer’s

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 30, 2023
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Researchers are uncovering links between viruses and brain diseases, which could point to a whole new approach to treatment.

Science is starting to uncover an unnerving fact about viruses: Some might affect our brains over the long haul. It came as a shock that SARS-CoV-2 can lead to lingering neurological problems — a post-viral syndrome we call long Covid. But the phenomenon might not be unique to this virus.

Scientists are finding links between common viruses such as influenza and brain diseases like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and ALS. Researchers are hoping that identifying a viral link might finally allow scientists to figure out what causes these mysterious, deadly ailments and develop new treatments.

A new study, published last week and summarized in Science, used a vast trove of electronic medical records to find thousands of people with neurodegenerative diseases and tease out correlations with 22 different kinds of infections. The biggest viral risk factor for dementia was encephalitis, which is an infection of the brain often caused by a mosquito or tick-borne disease. Other viruses tied to dementia included influenza, herpes zoster (shingles) and HPV.

Earlier studies had looked for specific viral links to Alzheimer’s and found correlations with herpes and some forms of HPV. And a study published last year showed that Epstein-Barr virus was necessary for developing MS. But scientists still haven’t figured out exactly what role the viruses play — whether they’re a direct trigger or have some peripheral role. Almost everyone on the planet carries Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mononucleosis, but only a tiny fraction ends up getting MS.

To better understand how viruses might be affecting the brain, I stopped by the National Institutes of Health to visit Avindra Nath, who is one of the few neurologists specializing in viruses — an interest he picked up after treating AIDS patients in the early 1980s. In 2014, he was the first neurologist to travel to Liberia to treat Ebola patients, and he said a fraction of those who recover suffer neurological symptoms similar to long Covid — especially chronic fatigue.

He told me that what really interests him are viruses that are embedded in our genetic codes — called endogenous retroviruses. They may have snuck in through a sexually transmitted virus that works itself into an embryo. These viruses are a source of genetic variation — and can add novel DNA to our genomes. Like mutations, these occasionally incur an advantage and spread through the population. About 8% of our genome is made of these embedded viruses.

Nath’s interest in these started when he was treating a patient who had both HIV and ALS, and after taking antiretroviral drugs, the ALS disappeared. A series of human and animal studies convinced Nath that ALS might sometimes be triggered by an embedded virus called HERV-K.

Normally HERV-K is active during fetal development, so it may have spread through the human population because it does something useful in utero. But after we’re born, it normally shuts off (due to external chemical switches that bind to DNA).

Sometimes, he told me, these “off switches” fail, and one of these embedded viruses can become reactivated. That failure might be part of the cause of ALS. After years of animal studies, he started preliminary human trials assessing the effects of antiviral drugs on patients with ALS. He’s now planning a placebo-controlled clinical trial for drugs that he’s shown can suppress HERV-K.

He’s also studying the kinds of viruses we catch from the outside world. He thinks viruses are more likely to trigger brain diseases indirectly — not by getting directly into neurons, but by prompting inflammation. It’s the immune system’s response that causes the problem.

He’s now studying people with neurological problems following Covid infection — something that he estimates affected about 10% of people infected before vaccines were available and a much smaller fraction today. He said that at first he was very skeptical of claims that the virus hides out in the brain, but more recent studies have made him take it seriously, especially autopsy studies done by Dan Chertow at the NIH. It might be that those residual traces of the virus are causing persistent inflammation.

It’s possible that this has always been happening to some fraction of people who pick up common viruses. It’s just that it didn’t get all that much attention before the Covid pandemic. Nath said virology and neurology were two completely different worlds, and he was unique in trying to navigate both fields at the same time.

If viruses do indeed play a role in some of our most feared and costly diseases, that could point to a whole new approach to treatment and prevention. In the future, everyone might get vaccinated against Epstein-Barr virus as a protection against MS. And it may turn out that you can reduce your odds of getting Alzheimer’s disease by getting that shingles shot and a flu shot every year. If HPV adds to the risk, it could motivate the medical community to redouble its efforts to get that vaccine to more people.

Scientists could even eventually develop a universal, variant-proof Covid vaccine that would finally prevent the risk of long Covid.

Someday, people may look back at all the expensive drugs we tested for dementia and other brain diseases and wonder how we overlooked the benefits of cheap vaccines for so long.

Practising gratitude can help you reduce stress: Research

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 28, 2023
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Gratitude has a special stress-buffering effect on responses to and recovery from acute psychological stress, which can help to enhance cardiovascular health, according to a study done by researchers from Irish universities with 68 adults.

Researchers from Irish institutions discovered that gratitude has a unique stress-buffering effect on both reactions to and recovery from acute psychological stress, which can contribute to better cardiovascular health. Knowing that stress affects humans and has an impact on their health and well being, specifically causing high blood pressure and increasing cardiovascular morbidity and coronary heart disease, it is critical to understand our reactions to stress and determine whether there are any factors that can play key stress-buffering roles.

In the article “Gratitude, affect balance, and stress buffering: A growth curve examination of cardiovascular responses to a laboratory stress task”, published in January in the Journal of Psychophysiology, Brian Leavy, Brenda H. O’Connell and Deirdre O’Shea propose that, although previous research suggest that gratitude and affect-balance play key stress-buffering roles, to date little has been known about the impact of these variables on cardiovascular recovery from acute psychological stress.

That was the focus of the study by the researchers from the Universities of Maynooth and Limerick in Ireland, who also sought to find out whether affect balance moderates the relationship between gratitude and cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress.

The research carried out at the Irish University of Maynooth involved 68 undergraduate students (24 male and 44 female), aged between 18 and 57 years. This study used a within-subjects experimental design with lab tasks in which stress was induced to participants and then cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in response to this was measured.

The results showed that state gratitude predicted lower systolic blood pressure responses throughout the stress-testing period, which means that the state of gratitude has a unique stress-buffering effect on both reactions to and recovery from acute psychological stress. It was also found that affect balance amplifies the effects of state gratitude.

These findings have clinical utility as there are several low-cost gratitude interventions which can contribute to well-being (Wood et al., 2010). For example, previous research has shown how cardiac patients who make use of gratitude journals have better cardiovascular outcomes than those who do not (Redwine et al., 2016).

Combined with the results of this study and previous work, gratitude may thus constitute a useful point of intervention for the improvement of our cardiovascular health.

High fat diet could reduce ability to regulate food intake: Study

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 27, 2023
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Understanding the brain’s role and the complex mechanisms that lead to overeating, a behaviour that can lead to weight gain and obesity, could help develop therapies to treat it.

Regularly eating a high-fat/calorie diet could reduce the brain’s ability to regulate calorie intake. New research in rats found that after short periods of being fed a high-fat/high-calorie diet, the brain adapts to react to what is being ingested and reduces the amount of food eaten to balance calorie intake.

The researchers from Penn State College of Medicine, US, suggest that calorie intake is regulated in the short-term by cells called astrocytes (large star-shaped cells in the brain that regulate many different functions of neurons in the brain) that control the signalling pathway between the brain and the gut. Continuously eating a high-fat/calorie diet seems to disrupt this signalling pathway. The study was published in The Journal of Physiology.

Understanding the brain’s role and the complex mechanisms that lead to overeating, a behaviour that can lead to weight gain and obesity, could help develop therapies to treat it. Obesity is a global public health concern associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. In England, 63 per cent of adults are considered above a healthy weight and around half of these are living with obesity. One in three children leaving primary school is overweight or obese1.

Dr Kirsteen Browning, Penn State College of Medicine, US, said,

“Calorie intake seems to be regulated in the short-term by astrocytes. We found that a brief exposure (three to five days) of a high fat/calorie diet has the greatest effect on astrocytes, triggering the normal signalling pathway to control the stomach. Over time, astrocytes seem to desensitise to high-fat food. Around 10-14 days of eating a high fat/calorie diet, astrocytes seem to fail to react and the brain’s ability to regulate calorie intake seems to be lost. This disrupts the signalling to the stomach and delays how it empties.”

Astrocytes initially react when high-fat/calorie food is ingested. Their activation triggers the release of gliotransmitters, chemicals (including glutamate and ATP) that excite nerve cells and enable normal signalling pathways to stimulate neurons that control how the stomach works. This ensures the stomach contracts correctly to fill and empty in response to food passing through the digestive system. When astrocytes are inhibited, the cascade is disrupted. The decrease in signalling chemicals leads to a delay in digestion because the stomach doesn’t fill and empty appropriately.

The vigorous investigation used behavioural observation to monitor food intake in rats (N=205, 133 males, 72 females) which were fed a control or high fat/calorie diet for one, three, five or 14 days. This was combined with pharmacological and specialist genetic approaches (both in vivo and in vitro) to target distinct neural circuits. Enabling the researchers to specifically inhibit astrocytes in a particular region of the brainstem (the posterior part of the brain that connects the brain to the spinal cord), so they could assess how individual neurons behaved to studying rats’ behaviour when awake. (ANI)

Human studies will need to be carried out to confirm if the same mechanism occurs in humans. If this is the case, further testing will be required to assess if the mechanism could be safely targeted without disrupting other neural pathways.

The researchers have plans to further explore the mechanism. Dr Kirsteen Browning said,

“We have yet to find out whether the loss of astrocyte activity and the signalling mechanism is the cause of overeating or that it occurs in response to the overeating. We are eager to find out whether it is possible to reactivate the brain’s apparent lost ability to regulate calorie intake. If this is the case, it could lead to interventions to help restore calorie regulation in humans.”

Covid infection could damage foetuses of pregnant women: Study

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 25, 2023
1 Comment on Covid infection could damage foetuses of pregnant women: Study

Foetuses and placentas of pregnant women, especially those infected with COVID-19 at earlier points in the pandemic, were found to bear a greater risk of experiencing growth impairment or vascular lesions in organs and brain, according to a new research.

Foetuses and placentas of pregnant women, especially those infected with COVID-19 at earlier points in the pandemic, were found to bear a greater risk of experiencing growth impairment or vascular lesions in organs and brain, according to a new research.

According to the research, results demonstrate that the different strains of the virus that emerged during the pandemic led to varying degrees of damage, which was especially higher by those involving pre-Omicron variants. The detected placental lesions could potentially harm both development and health in some of the affected unborn children, the study said.

Using prenatal magnetic resonance imaging, a group of Medical University of Vienna, Austria, researchers examined the placentas and foetuses of women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, the study said.

The research was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. While such damage occurs more infrequently and is less severe with the currently circulating Omicron sub-lineages, the study authors still advocate early detection measures for pregnant women who test positive for coronavirus.

Contrary to previous studies, in which SARS-CoV-2-related abnormalities were only identified postnatally and/or through histopathological procedures, the research team focused on prenatal imaging findings, the study said.

Using prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 76 scans of placentas and foetuses of pregnant women were performed in the study: 38 following a confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (pre-Omicron or Omicron variants) and 38 in healthy control cases, the study said.

The study found that the placentas in both the pre-Omicron and the Omicron groups revealed abnormalities.

“Infections with pre-Omicron variants, such as Delta, led to significantly greater damage in the form of vascular events such as blood clots or bleeding than with the Omicron subvariants currently circulating through the population,” noted lead author Patric Kienast, outlining a key finding of the study.

The researchers attribute the varying extent of damage to the placenta caused by different virus strains to the fact that Omicron sub-lineages are less likely than their predecessors to result in severe cases, and to higher vaccination rates as the pandemic has progressed, the study said.

“In any case, our results showed that the two non-vaccinated study participants developed placental abnormalities following infection with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron, compared with just one out of six of the women who had received three doses of the vaccine,” confirmed senior author Gregor Kasprian.

Oxygen, nutrients and metabolic products are exchanged between mother and child in the placenta. Attached to the uterine wall, this organ forms such a strong barrier against the coronavirus that only 3 per cent or fewer of foetuses whose mothers test positive for SARS-CoV-2 are also infected, the study said.

But as the study shows, the placenta itself is not spared from complications caused by Covid-19. Subsequently, some unborn babies experience stunted growth or bleeding in the brain, the study said.

“This is why the placentas of pregnant women who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 should be examined as soon as possible after testing positive using prenatal imaging techniques,” advised Daniela Prayer from Medical University of Vienna, citing the importance of scanning, particularly in the case of possible future coronavirus variants with mechanisms similar to Delta, for example.

By doing so, there is a chance to take measures to safeguard the health of the foetus in a worst case scenario, the study said.

Male and female hearts respond differently to stress hormone: Study

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 24, 2023
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Male and female hearts react differently to the stress hormone noradrenaline, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.

Male and female hearts react differently to the stress hormone noradrenaline, according to a recent study published in Science Advances. The research on mice may have ramifications for human heart conditions like arrhythmias and heart failure as well as how various sexes react to certain drugs.

The team built a new type of fluorescence imaging system that allows them to use light to see how a mouse heart responds to hormones and neurotransmitters in real-time. The mice were exposed to noradrenaline, also known as norepinephrine. Noradrenaline is both a neurotransmitter and hormone associated with the body’s “fight or flight” response.

The results reveal that male and female mouse hearts respond uniformly at first after exposure to noradrenaline. However, some areas of the female heart return to normal more quickly than the male heart, which produces differences in the heart’s electrical activity.

“The differences in electrical activity that we observed are called repolarization in the female hearts. Repolarization refers to how the heart resets between each heartbeat and is closely linked to some types of arrhythmias,” said Jessica L. Caldwell, first author of the study. Caldwell is a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology.

“We know that there are sex differences in the risk for certain types of arrhythmias. The study reveals a new factor that may contribute to different arrhythmia susceptibility between men and women,” Caldwell said.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It accounted for about 1 in every 4 male deaths and 1 in every 5 female deaths in 2020. Despite the impact on both sexes, cardiology research has largely been performed on male subjects.

In this study, the researchers were interested in looking at factors that may contribute to arrhythmias. Arrhythmias are a type of heart disorder where the electrical impulses that control heartbeats don’t function properly. They affect somewhere between 1.5% to 5% of the population.

The researchers had not planned to study sex-based responses, according to Crystal M. Ripplinger, senior author of the study. But the researchers started seeing a pattern of different reactions, which led them to realize the differences were sex-based.

Ripplinger, an electrical and biomedical engineer, is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology. When she started her lab at the UC Davis School of Medicine over a decade ago, she exclusively used male animals. That was the norm for most research at the time. But several years ago, she began including male and female animals in her studies.

“Sometimes the data between the two sexes is the same. But if the data start to show variation, the first thing we do is look at sex differences. Using both male and female mice has revealed clues into differences we would never have suspected. Researchers are realizing you can’t extrapolate to both sexes from only studying one,” Ripplinger said.

She notes that with the current study, it’s not clear what the differences in cAMP and electrical activity may mean. “The response in the female mice may be protective — or it may not. But simply documenting that there is a measurable difference in the response to a stress hormone is significant. We are hoping to learn more in future studies,” Ripplinger said.

Panic attack: 3 tips to help someone who’s having a panic attack

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 23, 2023
1 Comment on Panic attack: 3 tips to help someone who’s having a panic attack

Panic attacks can occur unexpectedly and have a significant impact on daily life. If you know someone who experiences frequent panic attacks, here are some tips to help them during an episode.

A panic attack is a sudden and unexpected episode of intense fear or anxiety that can lead to physical as well as emotional discomfort. One having panic attack may feel they are going to die or have a heart attack. However, one experiencing it does not realise at that time that it’s not actually life threatening. Panic attacks have certain triggers and research suggests that it is your body’s natural fight-or-flight response to danger. A racing heartbeat, sweating, trembling, difficulty breathing, stomach cramps, dizziness, nausea or choking sensation are the common symptoms of panic attacks. One must get to the root of their panic attack and get in touch with an expert as it can affect one’s quality of life severely.

While a person tends to lose control during a panic attack and feels that all the physical symptoms are real, their near and dear ones can help them deal with it with the help of certain tips. Nutritionist Lovneet Batra in her recent Instagram post offered useful suggestions to help someone who’s having a panic attack.

“Panic attacks are sudden, intense surges of fear, panic, or anxiety. They are often extremely overwhelming, and they have physical as well as emotional symptoms. Panic attacks can occur unexpectedly and have a significant impact on your daily life. Due to the extreme nature of the symptoms, it is important to understand how to react and help when someone undergoes a panic attack, as they may feel as if they are dying during an episode. However, if a person present around them is able to help them, they might feel a little better or understood. Certain strategies and methods can help alleviate panic, ease the situation, and even stop the symptoms from getting worse. Each one of us must know how to react and offer help in such situations,” says Lovneet Batra.

If you know someone who experiences panic attacks, guide them with things you can do (and avoid doing) to help them at the moment.

“Many people hesitate in helping someone facing panic attacks mostly because they don’t know what to do and they fear making the situation even worse,” says Batra.

She shared the three things that can be helpful in such situations:

Give them water

Water has calming effect. In fact, drinking cold water triggers parasympathetic nervous system to keep a person calm. What can also be helpful is physical contact with water. So, either, keeping a person’s hand or feet in water or giving them cold water to put on the face around the neck that can help easing the anxiety.

Ask if they need to sit

Help them find a comfortable chair. Let them sit as this can have a literal grounding effect that can be healing and that can be calming for their anxiety.

Use grounding technique

A grounding technique uses all five senses in calming a person. A very common grounding technique is 5-4-3-2-1 where you can ask a person to list five things they see, four things they can touch, three things they hear, two things they can smell and one thing they can taste. This in fact helps in focussing their thoughts in those questions and helps you release anxiety.

Union Budget 2023-24: Govt needs to continue strengthening healthcare infrastructure; promote Make in India in pharma

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 21, 2023
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The Union Budget 2023-24 is being presented at a time when the global economy is going through geo-political conflicts, rising inflation, and global recessionary inclinations.

Despite the uncertainties, the year 2023 holds a positive outlook for India’s pharmaceutical industry. The market has experienced significant growth during the past two decades, and pharma revenues worldwide totalled $1.42 trillion in 2021.
With the pandemic accentuating the significance of health and wellness, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is expecting expansion in the budget outlay and fund allocations in the upcoming Union Budget (2023-2024).

While the healthcare sector acquired a 16% hike in the budget allocation last year due to the pandemic crisis, the increase in the share of healthcare and pharma spending in the upcoming budget is imperative.

According to a recent EY FICCI report, as there has been a growing consensus over providing new innovative therapies to patients, the Indian pharmaceutical market is estimated to touch $130 billion in value by the end of 2030.
Meanwhile, the global market size of pharmaceutical products is estimated to cross over the $1 trillion mark in 2023. Thus, it is essential to allocate separate funds for R&D, formulation and API.

Additionally, it needs to put a deeper focus on quality manufacturing, and adoption of innovation and technology in terms of formulation manufacturing, diagnostics, packaging, medical devices among others.
The upcoming budget is also likely to focus on preventive healthcare, given the significant rise in non-communicable and lifestyle diseases in the country. Government incentives and grants for cost-intensive research are also anticipated.
Moreover, offering incentives to domestic API manufacturers and bringing about a reduction in GST and import duty on APIs is the need of the hour.

Further, given the increased reliance on imports towards medical equipment, incremental allocation towards manufacturing of healthcare equipment will help India become self-reliant. The government should come up with strategic plans to offer financial incentives to encourage the production of high-end medical devices in India.

Furthermore, the government may take measures to improve the ease of doing business in the pharmaceutical sector by simplifying the process and making it industry-friendly. Whilst the pandemic isn’t over yet, and its side effects long to stay here, the Union Budget (2023-2024) needs to continue focussing on strengthening the infrastructure of the healthcare sector and shift direction towards promoting Make in India pharmaceuticals for making India truly ‘Atmanirbhar’. We must become self-sufficient and competitive in KSMs and APIs to boost the growth of this sector.

The year 2022 saw several collaborations between the industry and academia, with both playing a pivotal role in helping the sector further strengthen its position in the global market. The same is expected in the coming year, along with the government and the industry partnering together for the greater good.
We must work together to ensure that Indian pharmacopoeia is acknowledged and appreciated worldwide. The government should make a roadmap and move forward so that more countries accept Indian pharmacopoeia.

The Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PICS) is bringing a great revolution in the GMP standards to establish the high quality in the drug product and thus India should become the member of PIC/S to raise its GMP standards as it is recognised as the ‘power house’ of pharmaceutical manufacturing. And for that, both regulators as well the industry need to upgrade themselves. To get PICS membership, our regulators, both at the central as well as at the state levels, need to undergo intense training programmes and our research laboratories need to be upgraded.

Similarly, at the industry level, pharma companies need to set up their facilities that comply with international regulatory requirements like the WHO GMP, US FDA among others.

A PICS membership reduces duplication of inspections, facilitates the industry in export, and provides huge market access among other benefits. As the industry expands its footprint across the world, it will need to continuously invest in upgrading manufacturing standards to keep its promise of being a high-quality, reliable supplier of medicines to the world.

The government has a role to play in terms of expanding the PLI scheme so that more local manufacturers can access incentives and support needed to play in the API sector, as well as formulations to cater to regulated export markets. Also, considering the rising need for robust intellectual property (IP) law and rights, we will need to work towards harmonising our regulatory requirements to global standards.

Similarly, at the industry level, pharma companies need to set up their facilities that comply with international regulatory requirements like the WHO GMP, US FDA among others.
A PICS membership reduces duplication of inspections, facilitates the industry in export, and provides huge market access among other benefits. As the industry expands its footprint across the world, it will need to continuously invest in upgrading manufacturing standards to keep its promise of being a high-quality, reliable supplier of medicines to the world.

Is it flu or Covid-19? Experts on how to differentiate between the symptoms

Post author By Pragya sharma
Post date January 14, 2023
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Flu and Covid-19, both being respiratory illnesses, have a lot in common in terms of symptoms and way of transmission. Here’s how you can know the difference between their symptoms.

Flu and Covid-19, both being respiratory illnesses, have a lot in common in terms of symptoms like fever, cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing, and how they are transmitted – through cough, sneeze or touching an infected object. So, you may not initially know if you are suffering from flu or Covid-19. The best way to know for sure is to get tested without delay. The primary difference between the two is that the flu and Covid-19 are caused by difference viruses. Covid-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2, while influenza viruses are responsible for flu. Flu may cause severe symptoms in elderly while Covid-19 can lead to severe disease even in those who are not in vulnerable group. Covid can infect a greater number of people than flu and the symptom onset is slightly slower. Good thing is there is a vaccine for both the infections and one must get their shots to prevent these infections.

We spoke to experts on difference between flu and Covid-19 symptoms and here’s what they said.

“The flu and Covid-19 are both respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. Symptoms of the flu and Covid-19 can be similar, such as fever, cough, and fatigue, but there are some key differences. The flu typically causes more severe symptoms in the elderly and people with underlying health conditions, whereas Covid-19 can cause severe illness in people of all ages,” says Dr Shalini Joshi, Senior Consultant-Internal Medicine, Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore.

Different viruses

“Covid-19 and flu (Influenza) are contagious illnesses of the respiratory tract. They differ from each other in several aspects. These are caused by two different viruses, i.e., SARS CoV-2 and influenza virus, respectively,” says Dr Rohit Kumar Garg, Consultant, Department of Infectious Diseases, Amrita Hospital, Faridabad.

Loss of taste or smell

Dr Joshi says Covid-19 can cause loss of taste or smell, which is not a symptom of the flu.

“Although symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhoea etc. are usual and common to both, COVID patients may also experience loss of smell, loss of taste,” says Dr Garg.

Symptom onset

“The time period from viral exposure to symptoms onset is shorter for flu (1-4 days) and somewhat longer for Covid (2–14 days). The exposed person starts spreading the SARS CoV-2 virus 2–3 days before symptoms onset, whereas in the flu, patients start spreading 1 day before symptoms,” says Dr Garg.

Which is more contagious?

“Patients remain infective for a longer duration after Covid than flu. SARS CoV-2 virus is more contagious than flu virus, i.e., it can infect many patients at a time, whereas only 1-2 patients at a time in case of flu,” says Dr Garg.

Symptoms and complications in Covid-19

“A Covid patient may also experience the formation of clot in blood vessels and cytokine release syndrome, in addition to other complications such as pneumonia, respiratory failure, multi-organ dysfunction, or sepsis etc. A Covid patient may experience symptoms such as cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, a high pulse rate, poor appetite, etc. for a long time after recovery from an acute illness,” says Dr Garg, adding, “SARS CoV-2 virus can cause serious complications even in healthy individuals, unlike the flu, which cause serious complications usually in patients with comorbid conditions.”

“It’s crucial to take the appropriate precautions to protect yourself and others from both viruses, the best way to prevent both is to get vaccinated, and practice good hygiene, such as washing your hands frequently and avoiding close contact with sick people. Flu (Influenza) is caused by a virus and most people recover on their own but it can lead to serious problems in high-risk patients. Therefore, we recommend yearly Influenza vaccination for elderly people, people living with chronic health diseases like diabetes, liver and kidney issues or weak immune systems. Consultation with a doctor is advised because the symptoms are quite similar. It is important to conduct appropriate tests for diagnosis and early treatment should be started by the health care professionals,” says Dr Shalini Joshi.

“There are specific antiviral treatments and vaccines for SARS CoV-2 and influenza viruses. Despite these differences, the key preventive strategies, i.e., social distancing, use of face masks, cough etiquettes, hand cleanliness, and vaccination, remain the same for both due to similarity in mode of transmission and route of infection, as well as the availability of effective vaccines against both of them, says Dr Rohit Kumar Garg.