The Ahmedabad-based Cadila pharmaceutical company has launched Risorine, the first indigenously prepared drug for treatment of tuberculosis.

Mooted as relatively cheaper and effective, it was produced through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Cadila Pharmaceuticals Limited and the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu.

Risorine will replace Rifampicin, which was developed in the 1960s and which continues to be used although its use exhibits a number of side-effects.

Rifampicin levels in the blood stream also tend to drop with time, causing decline in effectiveness.

“With the launch of Risorine, which is the world’s first boosted Rifampicin containing fixed dose combination, it promises to alter the way TB is treated at a global level,” said Indravadan Modi, Chairman, Cadila Pharma.

At present, India is home to over 3.4 million tuberculosis patients, one fifth of the global figure.

Dr Naresh Patel, a consultant scientist at Cadila, said: “In a multi-centric trial conducted across the country in patients with radiologically confirmed diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, more than 90 per cent of the patients treated with Risorine were cured of tuberculosis with comparatively lesser side-effects and better safety profile.”

TB drugs normally tend to be less effective once other drugs are used to treat a patient with multiple illnesses. In fact, HIV patients usually develop TB easily. When an HIV patient is administered Anti-Retroviral Treatment along with TB drugs, the TB drugs become less effective over time.