India unveils zinc tablet to control diarrhoea
April 7th, 2008 - 9:29 pm ICT by admin
New Delhi, April 7 (IANS) India Monday unveiled a zinc dispersible tablet to control diarrhoea, a disease that kills nearly 500,000 children in the country every year. Minister of Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said that the use of zinc along with oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to decrease the incidence and severity of diarrhoea.
“The government has adopted a policy to use zinc in treatment of diarrhoea under the National Rural Health Mission for children below five years of age,” Sibal said.
The minister said the department of biotechnology and WHO have developed simple, easily dispersible and low-cost zinc tablets for the national programme.
The tablets will be given to children between the age of two months and five years. Experts said the dispersible tablets can be administered by mixing with breast milk or water.
The treatment should be started from the first day of diarrhoea and the 14-day course should be completed.
The tablet contains 20 mg of elemental zinc as active ingredient and will be available in sweet vanilla flavour.
The tablet will be produced with technology transfer from Nutriset, a French company. The Nutriset product has been tested in India and clinical trials have evaluated the efficacy of zinc supplements and safety.
Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited (BIBCOL), a public sector undertaking of the ministry, will produce the tablet in India.
BIBCOL is ready with the tablet manufacturing facility and a trial batch has been produced. The company has a production capacity of 240 million tablets per annum and will soon come with commercial production.
- Indian department of Biotechnology developing anti-diarrheoa Zinc tablets - Jun 19, 2009
- Fighting diarrhoea to eradicate polio - Sep 16, 2009
- Zinc lozenge, the sweet pill for common cold? - Jul 27, 2011
- Upgraded tablet PC Aakash not to cost more: Sibal - Feb 20, 2012
- Zinc in blood reduces risk of pneumonia in elders by 50 pc: Study - Aug 11, 2010
- Zinc 'can treat the common cold' - Feb 16, 2011
- Researchers advise wider use of control measures for diarrhoeal disease - Jul 05, 2010
- Take zinc to shake off cold - Feb 16, 2011
- India launches cheapest tablet computing device - Oct 05, 2011
- Ranbaxy approved to make first generic version of Lipitor - Dec 01, 2011
- Probiotic drinks 'cut chances of diarrhoea' - Nov 10, 2010
- HIV drug now available as oral powder for children - Jan 29, 2012
- India's Bharat Biotech to sell $1 diarrhoea vaccine - Jun 06, 2011
- National Institute of Immunology is developing anti- diarrhoea vaccine - Jun 12, 2009
- Upgraded Aakash to be unveiled in May: Sibal - Apr 02, 2012
Tags: active ingredient, annum, breast milk, department of biotechnology, diarrhoea, elemental zinc, french company, immunologicals, kapil sibal, national programme, national rural health, national rural health mission, oral rehydration therapy, public sector undertaking, science and technology, sweet vanilla, technology transfer, use of zinc, world health organisation, zinc supplements
