Sun Pharma gets nod for drug trial in COVID-19 patients

DCGI approves testing of pancreatitis drug Nafamostat

(FILES) In this file picture taken on April 7, 2014, Indian employees of the country's third-biggest drugs company Sun Pharma walk outside its research and development centre in Mumbai. On the surface, Sun Pharma's 3.2-billion USD purchase of Indian generics rival Ranbaxy, which is in deep trouble with US regulators over safety lapses, may not look like a great deal. But Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' shares rocketed on last week's announcement it was buying Ranbaxy from Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo, which struggled unsuccessfully to resolve the Indian company's regulatory woes after its 2008 4.6-billion USD acquisition. AFP PHOTO / FILES / INDRANIL MUKHERJEE

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has announced that it has received the approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to initiate a clinical trial with Nafamostat Mesilate in COVID-19 patients.

Nafamostat is approved in Japan for improvement of acute symptoms of pancreatitis and treatment of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC).

“A group of scientists from the University of Tokyo, Japan and Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Germany, have recently demonstrated that Nafamostat, at very low concentrations, suppresses a protein (TMPRSS2) that the COVID-19 virus uses to enter human lung cells,” the company said in statement.

“Another group from Institut Pasteur, South Korea, also published data comparing the anti-viral efficacy of 24 drugs and Nafamostat, against SARS-CoV-2 in in-vitro studies in human lung epithelial derived cells,” the statement added.

In this research, Nafamostat was found to be the most potent drug and was able to inhibit virus entry at very low concentrations, consistent with findings from Japan and German labs, it said.

According to Sun Pharma these trials are being led by the University of Tokyo Hospital, Japan; Gyeongsang National University Hospital (South Korea); and a collaborative trial by University Hospital, Padova, Italy, University of Zurich, Switzerland and Yokohoma City University, Japan (RACONA study).

Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director, Sun Pharma said, “Sun Pharma is constantly evaluating potential targets that can be explored for treating COVID-19 patients. Nafamostat has shown promising data against SARS-CoV-2 virus in in vitro studies conducted by three independent groups of scientists in Europe, Japan and South Korea.”

“We believe it holds promise in the treatment of COVID-19 patients,” he said.

Sun Pharma plans to initiate the clinical trials at the earliest considering the pandemic situation and urgent need for newer treatment options for Covid-19.

The company has initiated manufacturing of both, the API and the finished product of Nafamostat in India, using technology from Pola Pharma Japan which is its subsidiary.