ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Task Force on Science and Technology Chairman Dr Attaur Rahman on Sunday said that combination of two drugs would have better results in treating coronavirus patients.
The clinical trials of patients had been carried out in Karachi and Lahore for checking the results of antimalarial and antibiotic drugs, he stated in a state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) programme.
“The Americans had tested Hydroxychloroquine as a viable treatment option for coronavirus patients but the results were unsatisfactory. We hope that in Pakistan, Hydroxychloroquine and Erthromycine would produce good results,” he added.
He said that the University of Health Sciences (UHS), was undergoing testing with some 1,100 patients to check the effectiveness of the combination of two drugs. “These are different approaches and our scientists, experts and pathologists are working on them, ” he said, and expressed hoped that combination of these two drugs would be helpful for coronavirus patients.
Responding to a question about the threshold of virus, he said that the intensity of COVID-19 was less pernicious in Pakistan as compared to European regions.
The task force chairman said that the research was underway in different labs of Pakistan for identifying the stages of mutation. Expressing his view as an eminent scientist, he said that some nine mutations were being observed in the virus that had entered into this part of the region from outside.
Responding to another question, he said that Dr Tahir Shamsi and his team was working on a project pertaining to the usage of plasma for treating coronavirus patients while Dr S Shah Nawaz and her team were working on stem cells. Thirdly, he said, a pharmaceutical company had acquired a shrub from China and for approval, the summery has been sent to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP).
