Cancer chemotherapy is rampant as cancer is the 2nd most common cause of global mortality. It is challenged by a horde of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and adverse events. A proper study of these ADRs is very crucial to limit their occurrences and thereby ameliorate the sufferings of the patients. Our study was to assess the frequency, nature and profile of the ADRs with anticancer drugs. A retrospective analysis of the ADR data collected over a period of 5 years was considered. Demography, drug related changes and clinical details of the patients were recorded and analysed. A total of 1145 ADR events were reported during the study period of January 01, 2017 to December 31st 2021 of which 232 cases (20.26 %) were due to anticancer drugs. The majority of the ADRs were accounted in females and in the elderly age group (>60 years). The commonly reported ADRs included breathing difficulty, chest discomfort, itching all over the body, numbness, neuropathy, mucositis and hand foot syndrome. The most common drugs that caused ADRs were Platinum coordination complex drugs, Taxanes, Rituximab and pyrimidine antagonists like Capecitabine and Gemcitabine. Causality assessment done using WHO-Uppsala Monitoring Centre causality assessment scale which showed 69.4% cases as “probable”, 29.3% cases as “possible” and 1.3% as “certain”. Severity assessed using the modified Hartwig and Siegel scale showed most of the cases as of moderate severity. Most of the ADR events in our study was manageable although a few required the withdrawal of the causative drug. Rigorous monitoring and adequate reporting are very crucial for the prompt identification, assessment and timely management of ADRs in the patients receiving chemotherapy so as to improve the quality of life in these patients.

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Background: Antiepileptic potential of statins, COX inhibitors and other herbal medications are to be evaluated in experimental animals so that the most efficacious can be translated for human use as an adjunct to the commonly used anti-epileptic drugs. Methods: This experimental animal study grouped 30 male Wistar albino rats into 6 groups with each containing 5 rats of which one group was control, one was the standard drug and the other 4 were treatment groups which received Atorvastatin, Celecoxib, Ashwagandha and Clove oil. These drugs were administered 30 minutes prior to administering Pentylene-tetrazole which induced convulsions and the various seizure parameters were analysed. The blood samples of the animals were also assessed for anti-oxidant activity by measuring superoxide dismutase and catalase levels in the blood. Results: The onset of seizure was significantly delayed by Ashwagandha (2.55±0.94), similar to the latency shown by the standard drug (2.09±1.21). The duration of convulsions was very significantly reduced in all the 5 drug groups in comparison to the control (p<0.001). The clonic jerk duration was not reduced as effectively as the standard drug. The duration of recovery time amongst the various groups was also significant (p<0.05). The SOD and Catalase levels of no groups showed any possible association between the anti-epileptic efficacy of these drugs and the anti-oxidant enzyme levels. Conclusions: Ashwagandha has good anti-epileptic efficacy not less than the standard drug when the various drug groups were compared.

: A series of an acute atypical respiratory disease occurred during December 2019 in Wuhan, China, that quickly metamorphosed as a pandemic, spreading across the globe, leaving more than 104,911,186 infected and more than 2,278,579 dead, in its wake within a year. This Novel Coronavirus, was also called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease was called Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19). On 30 January 2020, The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, declared the novel coronavirus outbreak, a public health emergency of international concern and flagged off WHO's highest level of alarm.: To elaborate the various drug therapies used in trials and vaccines available for COVID-19 across the globe.: We compiled the literature searches under a single heading and scrutinized over 154 articles, for extracting data on the various pharmacotherapeutic approaches available to treat COVID-19.: Despite wide and varied treatment guidelines being available, the cure or prevention is still elusive for COVID-19. The categoric efficacy of vaccines must be proved to tackle the fast-mutating coronavirus.: Current medical management is largely supportive with no targeted therapy available. Several drugs including lopinavir-ritonavir, remdesivir, antibiotics, hydroxychloroquine, steroids, anticoagulants, and antidiabetic drugs like metformin have been tried in clinical trials. Vaccines targeting the three different components of SARS-CoV-2 viruses, in different phases of clinical trials world-wide, have been made available.

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