KATHMANDU: Itolizumab, a Psoriasis injection, has been approved by India's drug regulator for “restricted emergency use” to treat Covid-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress, officials told Press Trust of India (PTI), a news agency, on Friday.

The injection was granted 'restricted emergency use' by Drugs Controller General of India Dr VG Somani to treat cytokine release syndrome among coronavirus patients.

“The approval was given after its clinical trials on Covid-19 patients in India was found satisfactory by the expert committee comprising pulmonologists, pharmacologists and medicine experts from AIIMS, among others, for treatment of cytokine release syndrome. It is already an approved drug of Biocon for treating psoriasis for last many years,” an official was quoted as saying on PTI.

Furthermore, every patient must give his or her informed consent before starting treatment with the drug.