RAS question
Nafithromycin, India's first indigenous antibiotic developed by Wockhardt with BIRAC support, targets which disease?
Correct answer: (D) Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP).
Nafithromycin, India's first indigenous macrolide antibiotic developed by Wockhardt with BIRAC support, targets Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP).
Explanation
Nafithromycin connects a science-and-technology current-affairs fact with a public-health use case. The PIB release identifies it as India's first indigenous macrolide antibiotic and states that Wockhardt developed it with support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Its target disease is Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia (CABP), including cases caused by drug-resistant bacteria. Nafithromycin is not a general anti-infective label but a CABP-focused antibiotic linked to antimicrobial resistance. PIB states that it is ten times more effective than current treatments such as azithromycin and offers a three-day treatment regimen, making CABP, not another infectious disease, the precise answer.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Tuberculosis is wrong because the PIB release identifies Nafithromycin's target as Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia, not tuberculosis.
- (B) Typhoid fever is wrong because the verified PIB source does not name it as Nafithromycin's target disease.
- (C) Malaria is wrong because PIB frames Nafithromycin as an antibiotic for CABP caused by drug-resistant bacteria, not as a treatment for malaria.
Concept
Biotechnology and public-health innovation in current affairs often connects antimicrobial resistance with indigenous drug development. RAS often revisits such topics because they link science policy, health outcomes and government-supported innovation.