The 10th of Ramadan Company for Pharmaceutical Industries and Diagnostic Preparations Rameda will begin manufacturing “Invisiram”, the Japanese analog tablets of “Avigan” for COVID-19 patients, which contains the active ingredient Favipiravir.
Amr Morsi, Managing Director of the 10th of Ramadan Pharmaceutical Industries, revealed the date of launching the drug manufactured in Egypt to treat coronavirus in local markets.
Morsi said, during television statements with anchor Amr Adib on MBC Masr, that the medicine containing the active ingredient “Favipiravir” will be ready to be put on the market within three weeks, confirming that Egypt has already started manufacturing the drug.
He explained that the Ministry of Health and the Drug Authority were cooperating with them greatly to speed up the production of the drug.
He explained that the drug they are working on in Egypt has proven very effective in treating people with the coronavirus, especially in China, Russia and Italy, adding that it is characterized by a high degree of safety.
He pointed out that the medicine manufactured in Egypt prevents the reproduction of the virus in the body, eliminates high temperature after two and a half days after its use, and eliminates coughing within 4 and a half days, indicating the ease of taking the drug because it is a tablet.
He stated that the company had applied to manufacture this drug in Egypt since 2015, explaining that the drug had been registered in Japan 5 years ago to treat influenza that did not respond to regular medicines.
He pointed out that after Japan conducted experiments on this drug to treat patients with the Coronavirus and demonstrated great successes, the company rushed to request its manufacture in Egypt, explaining that they had succeeded in obtaining the right to manufacture it in Egypt under the supervision of Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education, and Dr. Mohamed Awad Tag Al-Din, Advisor to the Egyptian President for Health and Prevention.
Whats is Favipiravir ?
Favipiravir is an oral antiviral approved for the treatment of influenza in Japan. It selectively inhibits RNA polymerase, which is necessary for viral replication.
How Does it Work ?
The mechanism of its actions is thought to be related to the selective inhibition of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. Other research suggests that favipiravir induces lethal RNA transversion mutations, producing a nonviable viral phenotype.
Favipiravir is a prodrug that is metabolized to its active form, favipiravir-ribofuranosyl-5′-triphosphate (favipiravir-RTP), available in both oral and intravenous formulations.
Human hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) is believed to play a key role in this activation process. Favipiravir does not inhibit RNA or DNA synthesis in mammalian cells and is not toxic to them
Effectiveness Against Covid-19:
In February 2020, favipiravir was being studied in China for experimental treatment of the emergent COVID-19. Trials are also being planned in Japan.
A study on 80 people in comparison to lopinavir/ritonavir found that it reduced viral clearance time, and that 91% of people had improved CT scans with few side effects. The limitation of this study was that it was not randomized double-blinded and placebo-controlled.
The drug has been approved for use in clinical trials of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. In March 2020, Italy approved the drug for experimental use against COVID-19 and has begun conducting trials in three regions most affected by the disease.
The Italian Pharmaceutical Agency, however, has reminded the public that the existing evidence in support of this drug is scant and preliminary. There are plans to study it in three hospitals in Massachusetts, USA as of April 20, 2020.As of early May 2020, a trial is starting in London, UK.
The drug was approved for the treatment of COVID-19 in the hospital settings in Russia on May 29, 2020, after an ongoing open-label randomized clinical trial had recruited 60 subjects on favipiravir.
According to the government clinical trial registry, this study COVID-FPR-01 is expected to recruit 390 subjects overall and finish by December 31, 2020.
On May 30, 2020, the Russian Health Ministry approved a generic version of favipiravir named Avifavir. RDIF backed the development of Avifavir and found it highly effective in the first phase of clinical trials.
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