Vopec Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd today announces it has completed one of India's first COVID-19 clinical trials on an herbal, Siddha formulation, Amrta Karuna. The clinical trial registered with the Indian Council for Medical Research.

Vopec began human clinical trials of Amrta Karuna in June in conjunction with Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) on COVID-19 patients. Notable results for the Amrta Karuna treatment group compared to the control showed:

Significant reduction in hospital quarantine: 5.8 vs 8.1 days (28% decrease)

RT-PCR negative on day 7 at 71.42% vs 42.85%

Significantly reduced CRP inflammatory levels (p=0.0236)

Significantly reduced LDH tissue damage levels (p<.0001)

TLC (immune system strength) within the normal range on day 14

Dr. C.R. Jayanthi, Principal Investigator and Dean of BMCRI, concludes, "This clearly indicates Amrta Karuna syrup proved to favourably influence immune system in quarantined COVID-19 subjects as compared to the control subjects."

Based on in silico models Dr. Dinesh, Research Head at Vopec says, the phytoconstituents in Amrta Karuna act on ACE2-Spike interaction, inhibiting the entry of the virus into the host cell, and on NSP15 protein to prevent its replication. Pre-clinical in vitro studies demonstrated the safety and efficacy of Amrta Karuna and confirmed its potential as an immunomodulatory agent against Dengue, H1N1 and H5N1 viruses. Confirmatory in vitro studies in the U.S. are underway on the SARS-CoV-2 virus through Agastiya Biotech in California.

Our clinical trial proves the antiviral and immunomodulatory therapeutics of Amrta Karuna. Amrta Karuna's mechanism is attributed to 5 anti-viral herbs from the 5000-year old Indian medicine system. Besides being anti-viral the five herbs also have strong immunomodulatory therapeutics. Dr. Baskaran Pillai, Chairman of Vopec says, "Herbal formulations have scalability and other issues. So Vopec currently has a small molecule under research to circumvent these problems. We invite pharmaceuticals, hospitals and researchers to partner with us in our fight against the pandemic."

Vopec recently licensed Amrta Karuna to U.S. based Nambu Botanicals.Vopec is a licensed Siddha and ayurvedic pharmaceutical manufacturer founded by Mr. Kannan, former Director of Drug Control TN. Dr. Baskaran Pillai acquired Vopec in 2013 to create new medicine for the 21st century by combining Western biotech and traditional Indian therapeutics.