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ShareAhmedabad: Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a Gujarat-based pharma company, today launched Risorine, the first indigenously prepared drug for treatment of tuberculosis in the country.
"With the launch of Risorine, which is the world's first boosted Rifampicin containing fixed dose combination, it promises to alter the way tuberculosis is treated at a global level," Cadila Pharma chairman Indravada Modi told reporters here.
"Tuberculosis is a major cause of many illnesses and deaths worldwide. Globally, 9.2 mn new cases and 1.7 mn deaths from TB occurred in 2006," Modi said.
"India is home to over 3.4 mn tuberculosis patients which is about one fifth of the global figure, which makes it the most TB prevalent country," he said adding in the given situation, launch of this new drug is an endeavour to combat tuberculosis in a more efficient and cost-effective manner.
"In a multicentric trial conducted across the country in patients with radiologically confirmed diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, more than 90% of the patients treated with Risorine were cured of tuberculosis with comparatively lesser side effects and better safety profile," said Dr Naresh Patel, a consultant scientist of Cadila.
He said that globally, last drug discovered for the treatment of tuberculosis was in 1963 and subsequently, Risorine is the only drug discovered by Cadila for the treatment of TB.
According to him, the huge number of tuberculosis cases detected annually in India can definitely be checked and cost-effective solution be provided with the help of Risorine.
Risorine is the outcome of a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Institute of Integrative Mmedicine, a Jammu-based institute, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Cadila Pharma Ltd.
