Zydus Cadila Seeks DCGI's Approval For Conducting Clinical Trials Of Antibody Cocktail To Treat Mild COVID-19

Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila has sought approval from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting trials of its monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat mild cases of Covid-19.

The development comes as the country is grappling with the second Covid wave.

According to Zydus, the treatment candidate, ZRC-3308, was earlier shown to reduce lung damage during animal trials. The drugmaker added that the candidate was found to be safe and well-tolerated.

"At this juncture, there is a critical need to explore safer and more efficacious treatments to combat COVID," Zydus Cadila's managing director, Sharvil Patel was quoted in the report as saying in an exchange filing.

Zydus Cadila is seeking national drugs controller’s permission to initiate phase 1/3 human clinical trials for its monoclonal antibodies.

It should be noted that similar treatments developed by US biotech and pharma firms including Vir Biotechnology and GSK, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals have received emergency use nod from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).