The project to create "Areplivir" was presented at the Federation Council

The project of Promomed and its production site JSC Biochemik to combat COVID-19 and other dangerous diseases was presented at a meeting of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

Starting the discussion, the Chairman of the Committee, Viktor Bondarev, recalled the complexity of the situation with the spread of coronavirus in the world and stressed: "Our state has taken all possible measures to contain the spread of this threat and to develop medicines to combat it.

To date, one of these drugs is Areplivir, which has already shown its effectiveness and saved many human lives, including our colleagues."

Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group, delivered the main report on the topic. He said that since the first days of the epidemic, the company has been at the forefront of protecting the health of Russians, ensuring the country's drug safety. The company's priority is to produce domestic strategic medicines in a volume that covers all the needs of Russian medical institutions.

Pyotr Alexandrovich told how, with the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, Areplivir was developed and produced from scratch, a drug approved on 06/23/2020 by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for the treatment of coronavirus infection.

- Now there is this medicine, and people don't die, - said the head of Promomed Group.- Areplivir demonstrates high efficacy – more than 90 percent, within the first 24 hours 70 percent of patients feel a radical change in their condition, a radical fracture, which is confirmed by tests in the next few days. We see that 80 percent of people recover on monotherapy, without concomitant medications. And we see that we do not have a single case of the disease passing into a more severe phase.

The operational creation of Areplivir became possible due to the effective organization of interaction between scientific and technical fields of activity at the Biochemist plant.

- We have attracted scientists – molecular biologists, technologists, developers, clinicians - everyone reads English, everyone follows the news of world medicine, and they exchange everything that happens here and now online. As a result, we managed to create a platform that was able to release this drug within a few weeks," said Petr Bely.

"The Biochemist plant, which is located in Saransk, is not just a factory," continued the head of Promomed Group of Companies. - This is a factory that our great Motherland built 60 years ago. It was built by order of Stalin, who made important conclusions after the Great Patriotic War: a lot of people - cured, operated on – then died from infections. As a result, four factories were built in the country, which were supposed to synthesize antibiotic substances so that our country would be drug-independent.

During the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Biochemist continuously supplied Russian doctors with antibiotics, all of which were included in the temporary prescriptions of the Ministry of Health for the treatment of COVID-19.

- Biochemist produces specialized drugs that, for example, facilitate lung intubation. Areplivir and innovative antibiotics are the umbrella of protection provided by a Russian plant to stop patients dying," said Peter Alexandrovich.

The head of Promomed Group emphasized that all this became possible thanks to Government Decree No. 441, which allows speeding up the documentation process for the release of new drugs effective in the treatment of coronavirus infection.

- We did not reduce the volume of clinical trials, did not soften the protocol, everything was carried out strictly, as it should be carried out normally. But not a single piece of paper has been on the officials' desk for more than 48 hours.

Pyotr Bely noted the successes of colleagues from other companies and stressed that the breakthroughs of the Russian pharmaceutical industry need to be brought to the mass consciousness of people who, by inertia, do not believe that something really effective can be produced in our country.

The head of Promomed Group made a proposal to consolidate the regulatory mechanism tested in the fight against the pandemic and in "peaceful" life.:

- If we manage to extend the mechanism developed by the government in the fight against COVID-19 to Russian innovative drugs, at least for the main areas of medicine – oncological, cardiological - it will be a huge breakthrough. Our patients will win, our healthcare will win

Pyotr Bely also spoke about the prospects associated with Areplivir:

- Now our company is working on the next generation of an antiviral drug, based on a combination that delivers favipiravir even better into cells.

The chief urologist of the Russian Ministry of Health, who supervised the protocol of clinical trials of Areplivir, Academician Dmitry Pushkar, who was present at the meeting, expressed his opinion.:

- Why did Biochemist's efforts make a huge impression on us? Because it was necessary to assemble 50 people, a huge consortium that deduced not only the type of treatment or the type of molecule and formula, but also the entire strategy of the drug's behavior. It was necessary to quickly find a substance that strikes very close to COVID. We used this drug in 250 patients according to the standard treatment regimen. How does the drug work? It really destroys the ribonucleic acid - the "brain" or "genitals" (as a urologist, this is closer to me) of the virus and stops its reproduction. Areplivir reduces the viral load on humans. Today it is the most effective drug. Not a single person in the protocol was put on a ventilator. That's why I will prescribe Areplivir to my loved one in a day – to work ahead of schedule. The mine hits, a funnel forms, there is no COVID in the funnel, and everything nearby is destroyed by five meters. And the virus is destroyed. That's what the active ingredient favipiravir is.

The academician stressed that he, as a doctor, was particularly impressed by the minimal side effects of Areplivir, as well as the speed of recovery.:

- Usually, a patient recovering from coronavirus is discharged to the observatory. We lose a person for four weeks. As the head of the largest urology department, I perfectly understand what it means to lose a person for four weeks. Can we send a person who has been treated with Areplivir home in five days? This is a serious question that needs to be answered, but based on the symptoms and tests, we can. The main conclusion: 40 tablets for 3-6 days – and the viral load is gone.

"If we are afraid of the second and third waves of COVID-19 and seasonal exacerbation of influenza, then with the vaccine against the common flu and Areplivir in our pocket, our country is in an insurance policy," concluded Academician Pushkar.