FITT looks for partners to jointly develop drug for dengue

New Delhi: The IMPRINT II, a technology development initiative of Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) is currently on and the proposal for the same is to be submitted by 10th April.

The Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) with an intention to submit the proposal in this direction is looking for a company to collaborate with faculty of IIT Delhi for this project.

For the details of the IMPRINT II, one can click here. For further details, one may get in touch with the FITT at poojabhatia.fitt@gmail.com

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection in humans transmitted by infected female Aedes species that causes acute dengue fever to life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Severe dengue infection shows clinical manifestations like severe abdominal pain, fatigue, restlessness, rapid breathing, bleeding gums, persistent vomiting, and blood in vomit, and may be fatal due to plasma leakage, fluid accumulation, respiratory distress, severe bleeding, or organ impairment.

Owing to the non-availability of a potential drug to cure the disease, there is an urgent need to adopt a skilled strategy to develop new therapeutic molecules that can specifically target the disease progression.

FITT proposes to identify and develop potential antivirals from medicinal plants and ayurvedic formulations against dengue virus infection.

Dengue disease is a growing public health burden in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world. According to the WHO, today dengue is endemic to more than 100 countries worldwide this indicates that approximately 40 percent of world population lives at high risk of dengue. Each year around the world Dengue virus (DENV) infects an estimated 390 million people and causes 25000 deaths. Currently, there are no specific drugs or vaccine or antiviral agent approved for
use in humans.