Context :
- Recently, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has cleared Itolizumab for restricted emergency use in Covid-19 cases.
About the Drug
- Itolizumab is a drug used to treat severe chronic plaque psoriasis.
- Itolizumab is for emergency use only in the treatment of Cytokine Storm Syndrome (CSS) in moderate to Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome(ARDS) patients due to Covid-19.
- It will be manufactured and formulated as an intravenous (IV) injection at the bio-manufacturing facility in Bengaluru.
- Itolizumab is the first novel biologic therapy to be approved anywhere in the world for treating patients with moderate to severe Covid-19 complications.
Back to Basics
Cytokine Storm Syndrome (CSS)
- an uncontrolled attempt by the immune system to neutralise the virus that often ends up damaging the lungs and other organs and even death.
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
- a disease in which the lung loses its capacity to expand further.