Russia to introduce first 'approved' COVID-19 drug next week

Russia hospitals will begin administering COVID-19 patients the first anti-viral drug, approved to treat the virus from June 11 onwards, the chief of Russian Direct Investment Fund told Reuters on Monday (June 1).

RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev said the company manufacturing the drug will produce enough to treat around 60,000 people every month.

With the pandemic having infected more than 4 lakh people in the country and left the economy in tatters, the RDIF and the ChemRar biotechnology firm last month had promised clinical trials of a modified version of favipiravir, the generic version of anti-flu drug Avigan developed by Japanese firm Fujifilm, reported the Moscow Times.

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Dmitriev told Reuters that Russian scientists have modified Avigan to enhance it and it has been approved by Russia’s health ministry. He said Moscow will provide more details on the drug within two weeks.

The drug, according to the RDIF head, after being clinically tried on 330 people has successfully treated the virus in most of the cases, within four days.

He said the drug can be administered in tablet form. “We believe this is a game changer. It will reduce the strain on the healthcare system, we’ll have fewer people getting into a critical condition and for 90 per cent of people, it eliminates the virus within 10 days,” Reuters quoted him as saying.