From gut pills to graphene condoms: What VS Hospital in Ahmedabad tested before splitting from SVP Hospital
Ahmedabad: Over the past 15 years, hundreds of patients, ranging from tiny infants just six months old to senior citizens nearing 80, have been part of clinical trials conducted at VS Hospital. A cursory glance at the Union govt's Clinical Trial Registry, India, reveals that these medical studies, conducted since 2007, have tested everything from the efficacy of anti-depressants and digestive treatments to a new type of condom that claimed to enhance sexual pleasure using graphene-coated latex versus standard ones.
"Between 2009 and 2019, several medical studies were conducted at VS Hospital. Then it separated from SVP Hospital in 2019 and became devoid of its own institutional ethics committee (IEC). SVP Hospital had one," said a senior AMC official.
The earliest study in 2009 at VS Hospital tested a combination of pantoprazole and cinitapride on patients to treat acid reflux and non-ulcer stomach pain. Other multicentric trials included research on antidepressant combinations like paroxetine and clonazepam, and one that compared two different versions of mesalamine for patients with ulcerative colitis — though this one was eventually called off.
In 2015, the hospital treated some patients suffering from avascular necrosis — a condition where bone tissue dies due to a lack of blood supply — with cultured bone cells grown from their own bodies (autologous adult live-cultured osteoblasts).
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The final trial officially linked to VS Hospital happened just before its split from SVP Hospital in 2019. This unique study, led by the gynaecology department, tested whether condoms with graphene offered more pleasure than regular latex ones. It enrolled scores of participants between March 2019 and June 2020, straddling the period when VS Hospital separated from SVP Hospital.
"Clinical trials were also held at VS, following the split with SVP Hospital. The latest — a Phase 4 trial on Sporlac for paediatric diarrhoea targeting participants aged 6 months to 18 years — was held this year," adds the senior AMC official.
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