Russia Approves 1st Covid-19 Prescription Drug for Sale in Pharmacies

Russia has approved Coronavirus treatment by R-Pharm for outpatients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infection. The antiviral medication could be rolled out to the country's pharmacies as soon as next week, the company said Friday, Ndtv reports.

The approval of Coronavirus as a prescription medication follows the green light in May for another Russian Covid-19 medication, Avifavir. Both are based on favipiravir, produced in Japan and commonly used as the basis for viral treatments there.

The announcement by R-Pharm is another indication that Russia is pushing hard to take a global lead in the anti-virus race. They are already shipping their Covid-19 experiments and have clinched a number of international supply deals for their Sputnik-V vaccine.

After Phase III clinical trials involving 168 Covid-19 patients, R-Pharm said it obtained approval for Coronavirus.

The medication was first approved in July for use in the hospital to treat Covid-19, a government registry has revealed.

The trial on coronavirus was comparatively thin. After a report by UK researchers on several thousand patients, the European health regulator on Friday supported the use of the steroid dexamethasone in the care of Covid-19 patients.

R-Pharm has begun negotiations on orders with pharmacies, the company's spokeswoman said, with Coronavir supplies scheduled to roll out in the immediate future, probably as soon as next week.

Coronavirus is manufactured at R-Pharm's Yaroslavl factory, about 300 km (186 miles) northeast of Moscow.

Avifavir has been available in hospitals since June but pharmacies have yet to receive it.

Both are based on the active ingredient favipiravir, which is also the key component in Fujifilm Holdings Corp's antiviral drug Avigan, approved in Japan as an emergency influenza treatment in 2014.

Trials are underway around the world to test it against Covid-19. The findings of a study in July in Japan were inconclusive.

It is produced for use against Covid-19 in India by various Indian generic drugmakers including Lupin, Cipla and Dr Reddy's.