Rossiyskaya Gazeta about Areplivir: A roadblock for the virus

The production of medicines for COVID-19 has been launched.

In the "RG" on May 24, we announced the beginning of the development of a new vaccine against COVID-19. And so, in the capital of Mordovia, a COVID-19 drug was launched. The Russian Ministry of Health has approved the drug developed here: its use reduces the duration of the disease to four days. Saransk is ready to produce up to one million packages per month, which will meet the needs of Russian clinics.

The development of our own technology for the production of a full-cycle effective antiviral agent has already been called a real breakthrough in the Russian pharmaceutical industry. The drug blocks the reproduction of the virus in the human cell, preventing the spread of infection in the body. It is based on a drug created in the early noughties in Japan for the treatment of Ebola. Experts believe that there are practically no viruses resistant to this remedy.

—The drug is effective against RNA viruses, which include the COVID-19 coronavirus," says Dmitry Zemskov, executive director of the Saransk Biochemist plant. — Our specialists have improved the Japanese design. The active substance we have obtained will become a platform for the creation of various antiviral drugs.

The novelty was created in the shortest possible time, and the full-cycle production technology was quickly implemented. In April, the developers appealed to the Russian Ministry of Health with a request to register the created drug in an expedited manner. And in May, clinical trials were already launched — they were conducted in hospitals in Saransk, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Recently, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation approved a drug for the treatment of coronavirus infection and issued a registration certificate. Currently, the drug is at the stage of completing clinical trials, in which 210 patients with coronavirus infection voluntarily participate.

— According to the results of the third phase of research, its effectiveness exceeded 90 percent. The duration of the disease with the drug is reduced from nine to four days compared with the control group of patients. In the biological samples of 70 percent of patients who took the medicine, the absence of the virus was detected on the fourth day. This is an excellent result," said Dmitry Zemskov.

The remedy is highly effective even outside of complex therapy — without anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics. Doctors recommend prescribing a new drug to patients with moderate to mild forms of the disease in the first 48 hours of treatment.

The use of the new drug reduces the duration of the disease to four days. Saransk manufacturers are ready to produce up to one million packages of the drug per month, which fully covers the needs of Russian hospitals. According to experts, this will turn the tide of the epidemic and fully face the second wave of coronavirus.

On the first day of production launch, 10,000 packages of the product were sent to medical institutions. The medicine will be available only in hospitals, under the supervision of doctors.

A source: rg.ru

1. https://rg.ru/2020/07/02/v-saranske-nalazhen-vypusk-lekarstva-ot-covid-19.html