Combination of two drugs to have better results in treating corona patients: Dr Ata

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of Task Force of Pakistan Science and Technology Dr Ata ur Rehman on Sunday said the combination of anti-malarial and Erythromycin drugs tried by the Pakistani doctors in treating the coronavirus patients would have better results.

The Americans had tested Hydroxychloroquine in treating the coronavirus patients with no success, while the clinical trial of combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Erthromycine in Lahore and Karachi would hopefully produce positive results, he said.

Dr Atta said the combination of two drugs was being tested on some 1,100 COVID-19 patients under the supervision of University of Health Sciences (UHS) to check their effectiveness. “Our scientists, experts and pathologists are working with different approaches ” in their research on the coronavirus treatment, he added.

To a question,about the threshold of virus, he said its intensity was was less pernicious in Pakistan as compared to the European regions. The research was underway in different labs of the country for identifying the stages of its mutation. It was observed that nine mutations of the virus had entered into the region.

To another question, he said Dr Tahir Shamsi and his team were working on a project of plasma for treating the coronavirus patients, while Dr S Shah Nawaz along with her team was working on the stem cell. A pharmaceutical company had acquired a shrub from China and the summary for its approval was with the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).

To a query, Dr Ata said COVID-19 was a third family virus as the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) viruses had recently affected different regions of the world.