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INDIA TO SOON LAUNCH ITS INDIGENOUSLY DEVELOPED VACCINE AGAINST LEPROSY
Leprosy is caused by the bacteria , Mycobacterium leprae and it affects around 1.25 lakh people every year in India . It means that roughly about sixty per cent of the world ’ s leprosy patients live here in this country . A lot many of them remain away from the proper prevention due to expensive options and lack of far reaching exclusive programmes by the government .
Therefore , the need for an affordable ' Made in India ' vaccine for clearly being felt by the patients and health workers alike . And finally now the wait seems to be over . The India ' s first indigenous vaccine exclusively for leprosy , mycobacterium indicus Pranii ( MIP ), will be administered as a preventive measure for people living in close contact with those infected by the bacteria . This is said to be the first such mass vaccination programme in the world . It has been developed due to the efforts of the founder-director of the National Institute of Immunology ( NII ), Dr G P Talwar .
The announcement in this regard was made by the Union Health Minister , Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda while speaking recently in Chennai at National Awareness Convention on Leprosy organised by the Sri Ramakrishna Math , Central Leather Research Institute and Saksham . " The first exclusive vaccine for leprosy that was developed in India will be launched in a few weeks ," said Mr Nadda . The Minister added that five districts in Bihar and Gujarat will be chosen for the pilot phase .
Vaccine has been cleared by the Drug Controller General of India ( DCGI ) and the US-FDA . The government sources say that if the pilot phase shows satisfactory results , the programme will be implemented in other high-prevalence districts across the country .
In Phase-I , over 7.5 crore people were screened in 50 high prevalence districts . As many as 65,000 suspected cases were detected , in which 5,000 were confirmed for leprosy . They are now being treated ," he added . Phase-II of the programme is expected to be launched in September , during which 163 districts 20 states including Erode district in Tamil Nadu , one of the hot spot for leprosy in the country , will be covered . The persons diagnosed also will be given a dose of antibiotic Rifampicin .
DST COMMITS 500 CRORE FOR PM ’ S VISION ON STARTUP INDIA
NIDHI ( National Initiative for Development and Harnessing Innovations ), an umbrella program is pioneered by the Department of Science & Technology ( DST ), Government of India , for nurturing ideas and innovations ( knowledge-based and technology-driven ) into successful startups .
In order to realize the Prime Minister ’ s ambitious Initiative on Startup India , DST aims to bring both speed and scale to transform the startup ecosystem in the country and has committed 500 crores to implement these new programs in next few years .
NIDHI focuses on building a seamless and innovation driven entrepreneurial ecosystem especially by channelizing youth towards it and thereby bringing in the positive impact on the socio-economic development of the country . The program aims to provide technological solutions not only to the pressing needs of the society but also targets to create new avenues for wealth and job creation .
There are 8 components of NIDHI that support each stage of a buddin g startup from idea to market . The first component PRAYAS ( Promoting and Accelerating Young and Aspiring Innovators & Startups ), launched on 2nd September , 2016 , aims to support innovators to build prototypes of their ideas by providing a grant up to Rs 10 lakhs and an access to Fabrication Laboratory ( Fab Lab ). The final component is the Seed Support System which provides upto One Crore rupees per start-up and is implemented through Technology Business Incubators . During the current financial year with a view to drive the innovation and startup centric new initiatives in a scaled up manner for its wider outreach across the country , a 450 percent increase in allocation ( Rs 180 crores ) has been made in the Department ’ s budget .
GLOBAL COALITION CEPI FORMED TO TACKLE INFECTIOUS DISEASES
India ’ s vaccine industry and government is preparing to play a key role in the newly formed global coalition , CEPI ( Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation ), to be chaired in the interim by DBT secretary , Dr K VijayRaghavan .
The decision to play an active role and offering India ’ s immense expertise in vaccine production and other capabilities in this new coalition , CEPI ( Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations ), was taken at a meeting attended by representatives of Association of Biotechnology-Led Enterprises ( ABLE ), Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII ) and other vaccine experts in New Delhi on September 5 , 2016 under the leadership of Dr K VijayRaghavan , Secretary , Department of Biotechnology .
The interaction between DBT and the Indian vaccine leaders was coordinated by ABLE and CII . Experts brain-stormed on India ’ s potential role in a global initiative CEPI that is being formed . Dr K VijayRaghavan is the interim chair of the committee .
As per the press note issued by ABLE , various suggestions were exchanged and would be firmed up in the coming months . The mood and the message was quite clear – that India had the wherewithal in terms of scientific talent and capacity to respond to any exigency , as was witnessed in case of H1N1 outbreak .
Going forward , the Government of India through DBT and the Indian Vaccine industry would work together to secure India citizens and others from potential epidemics . SARS , Ebola , Zika are diseases that have been in the news not only for the fatalities they cause but also for the fact that the outbreaks have been sudden and vicious . Moreover , there were no known Preventive or remedies at hand when they struck .
INDIAN SCIENTIST COUPLE AT DEAKIN UNIVERSITY BRING RAY OF HOPE TO PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS
In a major scientific research breakthrough , the Indian husband-wife , both scientists , have found out that a protein in cow and human milk , coupled with Doxorubicin can successfully treat prostate cancer , negates toxic side effects in prostate cancer research .
A medical scientists ’ team , at Deakin University , Australia , has recently announced that they achieved a breakthrough in
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BioVoiceNews | September 2016