A process patent has been awarded to an indigenous drug made by scientists of Chennai-based Indian Institute of Technology. The drug claims to remove toxic phosphorous from the body of a patient suffering from chronic kidney failure.

Pune-based pharmaceutical company Emcure had introduced a drug named Sevelamer Hcl, four years ago by under the brand name Foseal. The drug is in the form of a gel which once consumed gets swelled up within the body and binds the phosphorous.

The phosphorus then gets out of the body through faeces. IIT-M professor and organic chemist S. Sankararaman in collaboration with the Madras Institute of Nephrology (MIN) had developed the drug.

After making the drug, the patent was applied for by the scientist. According to nephrologists the drug is efficient and it can delay dialysis if it is administered to kidney failure patients early.

IIT-M director M. S. Ananth said, "It was a project between doctors and engineers initiated under the socially relevant projects initiative of IIT-M. In a country where the doctor-patient ratio is small and doctors have very little time for research, it’s vital for institutions like ours to collaborate."

The process becomes simpler and cost effective because the latest phosphate binder is a resin.