The drug “Avifavir” was approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
The development and preclinical testing of the first drug registered in the Russian Federation against COVID-19 “Avifavir” was carried out by the resident company of the Skolkovo innovation center LLC Kromis with grant support from the Skolkovo Foundation, the innovation center said in a statement.
“The Kromis company carried out the development of a method for synthesizing the Russian molecule and preclinical trials of “Avifavir” with grant support from the Skolkovo Foundation”, – the statement said.
Earlier it was reported that the domestic drug “Avifavir” for the treatment of patients with a new coronavirus infection received approval from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. This is the first Russian drug based on Favipiravir, which has been used in Japan since 2014 for severe forms of influenza. Kromis LLC is a member of the Skolkovo Foundation’s Biomedical Technology Cluster. The co-founder of the company is ChemRar Pharma.
“We are grateful to the Skolkovo Foundation for the trust and support of the project at the very early stage. The fund worked very flexibly and professionally. In a short time, a procedure was developed for expedited consideration of applications for projects related to COVID-19. Thanks to this, the project team could quickly advance in the development and research process of “Avifavir”. The Foundation supported the development of its own synthesis scheme for Favipiravir and the original formulation, as well as conducting preclinical studies. Thanks to the results of these works, it was possible to quickly start a clinical study, within which we provided patients with access to treatment with Favipiravir in the medical centers of Russia”, – the words of the director general of KhimRar Pharma Elena Yakubova are quoted in the message of the fund.
Coronavirus Development Portfolio
The fund noted that Skolkovo Foundation residents prepared about 130 developments to minimize and overcome the consequences caused by the spread of coronavirus infection. All of them are presented in a special section of the STOP COVID-19 fund’s website.
Among them are projects to create new rapid tests on COVID-19, technologies for diagnosing diseases using artificial intelligence, promising drugs, services for remote work and online training, and disinfection of rooms.
About the drug
“Avifavir” was produced by a joint venture of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the ChemRar group of companies.
“The trade name of the drug is Avifavir. The international non-proprietary or grouping or chemical name is Favipiravir”, – the site says.
According to the results of the first stage of clinical trials (10 days), “Avifavir” demonstrated safety, no new, previously unrecorded side effects were detected. Efficiency rate was above 80%, which is the criterion of a drug with high antiviral activity. The beginning of the final stage of the trials with an increase in the number of patients to 330 was approved by the Ministry of Health on May 21.