The company “R-Farm” as part of charitable assistance sends to the regions drugs inhibitor IL-6 olokizumab (“Artlegia”) for the treatment of moderate forms of COVID-19, reports “GAZETA.ru.” In April and May, 38 constituent entities of the Russian Federation accepted 25 thousand packages of the drug.
The total cost of products shipped as part of charity amounted to 1 billion rubles.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health of Russia approved a new, 11 version of temporary methodological recommendations for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, prepared by leading Russian experts taking into account the accumulated scientific data and clinical practice. The new version of the recommendations included changes and refinements in the sections on etiotropic and pathogenetic treatment of patients. For inpatient patients, the use of human anti- COVID-19 immunoglobulin as a component of any of the antiviral regimens is recommended. In addition, hydroxychloroquine is excluded from the list of possible drugs for the treatment of COVID-19.
“Methodological guidelines are an important tool to inform the medical community about the most optimal therapies for complex diseases at the moment. The new version of the document corresponds to the latest research and includes drugs that have shown results in real clinical practice. It is important to note that the list contains drugs that helped patients from the very beginning of the pandemic, their inclusion in the recommendations remains unchanged, “said Alexey Maslyansky, senior researcher at the NIL of Rheumatology at the Almazov National Research Center.
“Artlegia” (olokizumab) is the first original domestic biotechnological drug for the therapy of RA, as well as the first monoclonal antibody inhibiting interleukin-6 (IL-6) allowed for commercial use in this segment. A feature of the mechanism of action of Artlegia is the blocking of the ИЛ-6 itself, and not its receptor, which does not provoke an increase in the concentration of this cytokine in the blood. For the Russian market, Artlegia is produced at the site of the R-Pharm pharmaceutical plant in Yaroslavl. At the end of 2020, the drug was first registered abroad – in Azerbaijan. At the moment, R-Farm is preparing for the process of registering the drug in other regions of the world, including the United States and the EU.
