DRDO herbal drug Lukoskin proves helpful for vitiligo patients with 70% success rate

New Delhi: Many people with vitiligo seem to be turning towards herbal remedies like Lukoskin developed by the central government’s premier research agency Defence Research and Development Organisation. Till now, more than one lakh patients suffering from the skin condition, also known as leucoderma, have been treated with Lukoskin, with an average success rate of 70 percent, said Nitika Kohli from AIMIL Healthcare. AIMIL Healthcare is manufacturing and marketing the herbal drug. Kohli, an Ayurveda expert herself, said after the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) transferred the technology, human clinical trials were conducted and the drug was launched in the market in 2011. “In these ten years, over one lakh patients have been treated with the drug. We found 70 percent success rate,” she said. In fact, AIMIL is in the process of launching an advanced version of the drug, and the DRDO is already working in this direction. Kohli was speaking at a virtual conference on Clinical Management of Tough Skin Diseases’ to mark 10 years of the launch of Lukoskin as well as of AIMIL Healthcare. Representatives and doctors from various medical streams, including allopathy, participated in the programme and highlighted the role of herbs in general and Lukoskin in particular in the treatment of leucoderma. The ointment has seven herbal ingredients having properties such as photosensitisation, anti-blister, anti-irritation, anti-septic and wound healing properties, while the oral formulation is designed to improve the auto-immune system and supplement copper which checks the emergence of new spots, Kohli explained. Deepali Bhardwaj, a city-based dermatologist, pointed out that vitiligo can cause disfiguration, impair social function of patients and induce physiological burdens. In fact, in India, vitiligo has social stigma attached to it as people confuse it with leprosy. However, experts made it clear that vitiligo or leucoderma is neither contagious nor life-threatening. Hence, dermatologists should identify this condition carefully, especially the humanistic factors in social life, and perform individualized and “non-drug” treatment, they asserted. The incidence of leucoderma is one-two percent of the population worldwide. Reputed Ayurveda experts Surendra Chaudhary, Bhagwan Sahay, Prabhakar Rao, among others, were also present in the event.