In a potentially significant development for the pharmaceutical industry, a new drug developed by a Kochi-based firm has been given the green light to move to mid-stage trials on Covid-19 patients. If proven effective, the drug, GPP-Baladol, would be the first ‘new chemical entity’ cleared for treating severe patients at a time most pharma firms have been focussed on repurposing older, previously approved drugs in this pandemic.
However, some experts feel it is too early to get excited about the product, which has only cleared early-stage trials that prove it is safe to use, not effective.