Mohali’s NIPER focusing on cutting-edge Covid-19 research

Besides research on models to identify drugs to treat fatal disease, options are being explored to set up a virus research lab on campus

In a race against time, faculty members of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) are, for the first time, researching models to identify drugs to treat Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – Coronavirus -19 (SARS CoV-2).

Options are also being explored to set up a virus research lab on campus.

The pharmacoinformatics faculty of the institute has initiated research work to model and simulate technologies that can help in the prevention and diagnosis of Covid-19 and also identify new drugs.

NIPER has also joined a consortium that includes the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, and The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, to repurpose existing medicines.

A biosafety level-3 lab specifically designed to work on deadly viruses while maintaining safety of scientists working on these is also being set up on the NIPER campus.

“This is for the first time that the institute is doing research on viruses. A multi-centric proposal has already been filed under The New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) project, which is focused on developing new delivery mechanisms for therapeutic agents, being used currently in Covid-19 treatment,” said Professor Saranjit Singh, acting director of NIPER Mohali.

NMITLI is the largest public-private-partnership effort within the R&D domain in the country.

Singh said the institute was mainly focused on delivering drugs through inhalation as Covid-19 affected the lungs.

On other initiatives, he said a few faculty members had joined national and international groups fighting against Covid-19. “One of our faculty members was recently invited to join a corporation in California, as part of their team for analytical work in a Covid 19 project that is being submitted for US Food and Drug Administration approval. The institute has already received proposals for a memorandum of understanding which is being reviewed,” Singh said.

The institute was also initiating work in the ambitious area of discovering new drugs for anti-viral treatment. This is a long term goal as discovery of new medicine can take anything between six to 10 years. NIPER hopes to work in collaboration with the pharma industry to synergise the discovery of new drugs for viral diseases, he added.

Established in 1994 on 130 acres in Sector 67, NIPER is an Indian Public Pharmacy Research University and a part of seven schools under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, government of India.

Isolation ward set up

The National Bioavailability Centre (NBC) at NIPER has also been prepared as an isolation/quarantine facility for Covid-19 patients. Every residential housing type (from 2 to 6) has nodal officers in charge equipped with personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, including masks, gloves and protective wear for head, eyes and feet for use in case anyone tests positive. The nodal officers have also been trained in wearing and removal of the items.