A new herbal drug developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for treatment of leucoderma, a skin condition in which white patches develop on the skin, is all set to enter market soon.
The disease, also called ‘vitiligo’, can cause low selfesteem and depression in people suffering from it. Hemant Pandey, a senior DRDO scientist, has worked on an advanced version of Lukoskin drug, which may be very helpful for the treatment of leucoderma. There are various remedies for vitiligo, like allopathic, surgical and adjunctive available at present, but none of the therapies has satisfactorily cured this disease, said Pandey
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The drug has been approved by the Narendra Modi government in May 2019. Pandey was also awarded “Science Award” for developing ‘Lukoskin’.
“Drugs available in the market for treating vitiligo are either costly or single molecule based, with very low level of efficacy and sideeffects like blister, edema and irritation in the skin with most of the patients discontinuing the treatment,” said Pandey.
As the world marked 25 June as International Vitiligo Day, Pandey, who heads the Herbal Medicine Division of DRDO’s Defence Institute of Bio-energy Research (DIBER) at Pithoragarh, talked about Lukoskin marketed by Delhi-based AIMIL Pharma Ltd.
