Russia will roll out its first approved Covid-19 treatment next week
By Caoimhe Toman
Date: Monday 01 Jun 2020
(Sharecast News) - Russia will start to roll out its first approved drug for coronavirus and will start treating patients as soon as next week, Reuters reported.
Russian state financial backer told Reuters it hopes the move will ease strains on the health system and speed a return to economic normality.
The country's hospitals will provide the antiviral drug, which is registered under the name Avifavir, to patients from 11 June, according to the head of Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund.
According to Reuters, the company behind the drug would manufacture enough to treat around 60,000 people a month.
There is currently no effective vaccine for the disease and human trials of several existing antiviral drugs have yet to show efficacy.
Avifavir, known generically as favipiravir, was first developed in the late 1990s by a Japanese company later bought by Fujifilm. Japan has been trialling the same drug, which is known there as Avigan.
It received $128m in government funding in Japan but it has yet to be approved for use.
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