When you visit a bank, you always see a sign reading 'Single window', meaning you can conduct your all banking operation just through that particular window. On the same lines, if things go as planned for Ahmedabad-based Amrita Therapeutics, a single drug can cure many disease. The company is working on multiple diseases targeting drug development, in which one drug will be able to cure diseases like cancer, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis with fewer side-effects and less cost.

"As the first innovative biotechnology company to focus on multiple disease targeting (MDT), drug development, our new therapies will be characterised by fewer side-effects, less likelihood of drug resistance, and will come to market at costs substantially below industry average," said Susan Finston, CEO of Amrita Therapeutics, which has tied up with Ahmedabad-based BV Patel Pharmaceutical Education and Research Development Centre for availing research facility.

Company's new therapies and cures will treat cervical cancer, central nervous system disorders, HIVAIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by designing the products of bacteria to defend the human body against more than one disease simultaneously.

"For the last fifty years, new drug research and development efforts have targeted individual diseases and single mechanisms (genes, enzymes, etc.) for novel medical therapies. These drug discovery efforts are directed to a single target in a disease" explains company's founder and senior science advisor Ananda Chakrabarty.

Company has tasted some success in initial phases by testing its drug on mice where the regression of cancer tumour was 85%. In the next phase, drugs will be tried on monkeys, cats and dogs and then human cell. Company believes that it may take around five years for its drug to hit the market.

"Although there has been heightened interest in bacterial biomedical research, no other company is pursuing Amrita Therapeutics' concept of MDT and the use of protein products as a focus for bio-pharmaceutical drug development" adds Chakrabarty.

Shed the flab at this clinic

Ahmedabad: Suffering from the fear of obesity and want to overcome this nemesis? Then there is hope for you in Ahmedabad. Sterling Hospital has launched obesity and metabolic clinic, headed by Dr Mahendra Narwaria, who would cure your problem through a surgery. “Surgery for obesity is not new, it is in practice since 1954 and there has been continuous evolution of the technique. Obesity is not lifestyle disease but it creates other diseases like diabetes, heart diseases, joint problems and other psychiatric problems also,” said Narwaria.

 The multi-super specialty hospital will also run a fellowship programme on the obesity surgery. Narwaria said, “Medication can not help after a point, and once the mediation is stopped after losing 3-5 Kgs, the body bounces back and people gain more weight. As far as my study is concerned, I have performed more than 400 surgeries and results are favourable. There is not a single case without positive results. Many people get rid of their prolonged type-2 diabetes with in couple of days after surgery .”

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication