Pune-based drug discovery research company Novalead will study the effectiveness of an anti- parasitic drug in the recovery of moderately ill Covid-19 patients, according to its CEO.

The Tata Capital-backed company uses computational model to search existing drugs for newer therapies. Supreet Deshpande, CEO of Novalead, told ET that the firm will start phase 3 randomised trials to study whether the generic drug nitazoxanide brings down the viral load of a moderately ill Covid-19 patient, and the time taken for it. The secondary endpoint of the study will be to see if patients are able to get off oxygen support after administration of the drug.
In India, Novalead is enrolling 100 patients across six centres for the trial which is expected to start in a month’s time.

Source: economictimes