US keen to include Indian investigators in clinical trials for COVID-19: Dr Fauci

America’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Thursday that his country is eager to involve Indian investigators in global clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 therapeutics. Dr Fauci said during an interaction organized by the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has a long history of collaboration with its counterpart agencies in India. “As part of the long-standing Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme, we will continue to work with India on research related to SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) vaccines. We are also looking forward to involving Indian investigators in sites in global clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of various COVID-19 therapeutics, “They said. The NIH and India’s Department of Biotechnology as well as the Indian Council of Medical Research have helped formulate important scientific and public health discoveries in the past. “I am confident that they will continue to do so in the future. Everyone knows about India’s contribution to global scientific knowledge. With strong government support and a vibrant biopharma private sector, this knowledge is already providing solutions for prevention and care of COVID-19,” said Dr Fauci.

India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu said that as India ramps up vaccine production to meet its own and the world’s needs, it relies on the support of the United States to make raw materials and ingredient items available in good supply. does. “Vaccination of the world is our best bet against another wave of the pandemic, and the ideal way to accelerate economic recovery,” he said. Noting that India-US health cooperation is not new, he said as part of the long-running Vaccine Action Program between the two countries, they developed a vaccine against rotavirus, which causes severe diarrhea in children. He said Indian companies have also manufactured highly cost-effective HIV drugs for use in African countries, based on collaborations between US organizations and the private sector. “Looking ahead, We need to invest in preparing for the future. Future global resilience will depend on how prepared we are to deal with future pandemics.

We need to work to further expand our bilateral programs in areas such as epidemiology, digital health and patient protection to tackle communicable and non-communicable diseases and improve infectious disease modeling, prediction and prognosis Can you Similarly, sharing of clinical expertise, standards and experiences of hospitals in the management of infectious diseases, especially COVID-19, will increase the knowledge base,” Sandhu said. “I think it is important to understand that when the US went through the crisis last year, it was India that supported the US with vital medicine. And India is passing through its challenges, we have made strides. Hence, it is a mutual partnership,” said USISPF President Mukesh Aghi. Sandhu said that last year, as the pandemic struck, India ensured the integrity of the health supply chain by providing essential medicines to the US. “This year, when the US backed India during the second wave, President Biden recalled India’s help. Companies like Gilead and Merck, which are here today, have been instrumental in supplying India with essential medicines, which have helped us fight the pandemic and saved countless lives. .