An affordable, safe and effective treatment for dengue, a disease that kills several in India each year, might be on the cards with a matter of years. A collaboration between a government institute and a non-profit organisation on a research is aiming to find a solution to treat dengue within five years.
The Transitional Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), an autonomous institute of the Centre-backed department of biotechnology under the ministry of science and technology has partnered with non-profit research institute Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) India Foundation, in a collaboration that “aims to develop a safe, affordable and effective treatment for dengue, within five years”, a press release said.
“There are no specific antiviral drugs to treat dengue infection, and limited use of vaccines. Despite research and development to identify treatment for dengue fever, we have not yet achieved sufficient results. It is important that we join our efforts to tackle the disease which affect millions of people,” said Pramod Kumar Garg, executive director of THSTI, as per the release.
“The collaboration with DNDi India Foundation is an important step towards developing effective treatment of dengue fever,” he said, adding, “At the same time, it will coordinate efforts to help overcome knowledge gaps and expedite clinical research and regulatory approvals, including addressing unmet need of the dengue patients.”
As per the statement, the joint venture will carry out preclinical studies of potential dengue treatments, test the efficacy of several repurposed drug candidates and implement clinical trials of the most promising compounds to deliver an affordable and accessible treatment solution. “The focus will be on combination treatment opportunities as these have the most potential for increased efficacy at different stages of the disease – increasing the window of opportunity to avoid progression to severe dengue,” it said.
Dengue, a climate sensitive neglected tropical disease borne by mosquitoes, is one of the top 10 threats to global public health worldwide, THSTI said. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one modelling estimate indicates 390 million dengue virus infections per year, of which 96 million manifest clinically. Another study on the prevalence of dengue estimates that 3.9 billion people are at risk of infection with dengue viruses. Despite a risk of infection existing in 129 countries 70 per cent of the actual burden is in Asia, says WHO.
India reports tens of thousands of dengue cases every year, with outbreaks every two to three years in different states of the country. In 2021, a total number of 164,103 dengue cases were reported against 205,243 cases in 2019, which reported the most number of infections till date.
Symptoms can include fever, nausea, vomiting, aches, and muscle, joint or bone pain so excruciating that the disease is also known as ‘breakbone fever.’ If infection progresses to severe dengue, affected people may experience shock, internal bleeding and organ failure – there is also a risk of death, says THSTI.
Despite all the factors, there is no specific solution to treat dengue, which not only makes the infected person suffer, but puts a toll on the healthcare system.
“As there is no specific treatment that can prevent progression of the infection to severe dengue, it is critical to find therapeutic solutions to this climate-sensitive disease that spreads at rapid pace,” said Kavita Singh, director of DNDi South Asia, placing hope on the research to provide effective solutions.
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