Russia approves ‘Coronavir’ drug to fight against novel Coronavirus

Russia has approved a new antiviral drug, Coronavir, to treat COVID-19 patients, its developer R-Pharm said on Wednesday. Russia has so far confirmed 700,000 cases.

According to the details, a clinical trial for Coronavir involving mild or medium-level cases had shown the drug to be highly effective to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

“Coronavir is one of the first drugs in Russia and in the world that does not tackle the complications caused by SARS-CoV-2, but battles the virus itself,” the company’s statement said.

It said a clinical study showed improvement in 55% of outpatient cases on the seventh day of treatment with Coronavir, against 20% of those with standard etiotropic therapy. R-Pharm said there was also a significant difference at 14 days.

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By the fifth day of treatment, the novel coronavirus had been eliminated in 77.5% of patients who took the drug, R-Pharm said.

“Global clinical practice and the clinical study we conducted have confirmed that Coronavir puts a much more rapid stop to the infection as a result of its effective obstruction of the virus’s replication,” R-Pharm’s medical director informed.

According to the details, testing began in late May and over 110 outpatients have now received the treatment.

Coronavir is the third registered in Russia to treat the new coronavirus. The first, Avifavir, has been given to patients since June 11.

The health ministry gave its approval for Avifavir’s use under an accelerated process while clinical trials were still under way.

In a statement on Wednesday, Russia’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, which provided financial backing for Avifavir, said it had asked the ministry to approve the drug for use by patients treating COVID-19 at home.