UoH Startup and INDRAS research proposes drug for Covid-19 treatment

The first result offering a safe, ready-to-use and cost-effective solution for Covid-19 treatment, Ertugliflozin is an FDA approved drug for type-2 diabetes.

Hyderabad: Research by ReaGene Innovations Private Limited, a startup incubated at the ASPIRE-BioNEST, and INDRAS Private Limited suggests that an anti-diabetic drug Ertugliflozin, can be repurposed to treat Covid-19.

According to the findings, the repurposed drug binds effectively to the receptor binding domain of the spike protein of Covid-19 and also displayed significant anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic properties in a 3D human lung model.

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The first result offering a safe, ready-to-use and cost-effective solution for Covid-19 treatment, Ertugliflozin is an FDA approved drug for type-2 diabetes and acts against diabetes by removing excessive glucose through urine. “It has immense potential to treat Covid-19 infection and our research proved its efficacy in test-tube assays,” said Dr. Uday Saxena, CEO, ReaGene Innovations.

This research, funded by IT giant Tech Mahindra, was done by a team led by Dr. Ratnakar Palakodeti, Global Practice Head of Life Sciences and Nikhil Malhotra, Global Head, Makers Lab in the scientific partnership of INDRAS and ReaGene. The outcome of the research was recently published in a journal and a patent was also filed for the same. “We have found a molecule that can potentially attack corona virus. We have applied for a joint patent,” said Malhotra.

ASPIRE-BioNEST is a life sciences incubator jointly funded by BIRAC, a not-for-profit organisation of Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and University of Hyderabad, and incubates startups like ReaGene, helping them achieve their goals by providing plug-and-play facilities.

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