Egyptian citizens and Pharmacies are awaiting in the coming days the preliminary results of local studies conducted the drug Favipiravir produced in Egypt to treat the emerging coronavirus, as health officials confirm that the state has not yet passed the peak stage of the virus, despite the low rates of infection, during the last couple of days.
In exclusive statements to "Sky News Arabia", Dr. Hossam Hosni, head of the scientific committee to combat coronavirus affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Population, said: "There are strong local studies on the idea of a specific drug that is produced in Egypt, and its preliminary results will appear within days."
He added: "We are still at the moment in the initial results stage, which is promising but has not yet reached proven studies and statistical measures, which is what is being done in the current period."
With regard to announcing the final results, Hosni explained that "after the necessary proven statistical studies , the results will be published."
The tenth of Ramadan Company for Pharmaceutical Industries and Diagnostic Products in Egypt (Ramida) has announced, at the end of last June, the start of the manufacture of the drug "Invisiram" to treat patients with the emerging coronavirus, according to the Reuters news agency.
"Invisiram" is the similar drug for the Japanese "Avigan", which is used to treat "Covid 19" patients and contains the active ingredient "Favipiravir".
"Ramida" company obtained the approval of the Egyptian Ministry of Health to manufacture the drug "Remdisever", which is the same drug used to treat the disease in the United States.
Egyptian Eva Pharma Pharmaceutical Industries also stated earlier that it had reached an agreement with the American "Gilead Sciences" to manufacture its anti-retroviral drug "Remdisiver" and distribute it in 127 countries.
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.
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