The registration of Areplivir (favipiravir), the first Russian direct-acting injectable coronavirus therapy, has been completed. It should go on sale in December 2021.
“It will be available in the sale network from the beginning of December. And we will be able to supply it for the whole country, all regions of the country,” said Pyotr Bely, the head of the Promomed group of companies.
As the company noted, Promomed was the first in the world to create an injectable form of favipiravir, despite the fact that the substance is an insoluble powder.
According to a multicenter clinical trial led by the RAS Academician Dmitry Pushkar, the new drug is effective and safe for in-patient use.
The oral form of Areplivir was included in the current guidelines at the outpatient and inpatient stages. It is expected that the injectable form will also be included in the recommendations as more effective for the treatment of hospitalized patients. The final decision will be made by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation during the next revision of the guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the novel coronavirus infection.
According to Sergey Avdeev, the chief pulmonologist of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, until now the only antiviral drug for parenteral administration was a foreign product, expensive and not readily available.
“The emergence of an effective domestic antiviral drug for parenteral administration, which is also widely available, can turn the tide in the fight against the pandemic. The injectable form of the drug is characterized not only by 100% bioavailability, but also by more intensive penetration and distribution in cells, longer retention of therapeutic concentration in tissues, as well as an improved safety profile. This should significantly increase the effectiveness of the treatment at the hospital stage,” Sergey Avdeev stressed.
Earlier it became known that Promomed is testing an injectable form of Areplivir in patients with COVID-19.
