A medical specialist wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) takes care of a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the City Clinical Hospital Number 15 named after O. Filatov, which delivers treatment to people infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19 ), in Moscow, Russia May 25, 2020. Picture taken May 25, 2020. REUTERS / Maxim Shemetov
Moscow (Reuters) – Russia has launched its first approved drug against the coronavirus-induced respiratory disease Covid-19.
The Russian state fund RDIF, which is behind the project, announced on Thursday that the first deliveries of the antiviral medicine known as avifavir had gone to several hospitals. Seven of the more than 80 Russian regions have already been supplied, said RDIF boss Kirill Dmitriew. More should follow. In Russia, more than half a million people are now infected with the virus, and over 6500 people have died as a result.
So far, there is no vaccine against the Coronavirus nor against Covid-19. Remdesivir from the US company Gilead is currently the greatest hope among the potential corona medications. The biotechnology company has already received approval in the United States to use remdesivir in emergencies. Gilead has requested this for the EU.
The Russian state fund RDIF has funded studies and holds a 50 percent stake in the pharmaceutical company ChemRar, which manufactures Avifavir. Dmitriev said more than ten countries have already requested the drug. Recently, RDIF boss Reuters had said that ChemRar would produce enough of the drug to treat around 60,000 people a month.
With 502,436 infections detected, Russia has the most contagion cases worldwide after the United States and Brazil. According to the authorities, 6532 people died from or with the coronavirus – this is a low number compared to other countries and in relation to infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described this number as “difficult to understand”.
