Russia Will Begin Using its Medicine to Treat Coronavirus

Avifavir was developed on the basis of the Japanese drug Favipiravir Starting with the next week, Russia will begin using its first drug to treat patients with COVID-19 hoping that this will ease the burden on the national health system and accelerate thr return to normal economic life. This reported to Reuters the state financial drug sponsor. Russian hospitals will be able to start giving patients an antiviral drug registered as Avifavir from June 11, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, told Reuters. According to him, the company developing the drug will be able to produce medicine in an amount sufficient to treat 60 thousand people per month. Avifavir, known generically as Favipiravir was first created in the late 1990s by a Japanese company, subsequently acquired by Fujifilm, when the latest began working in the healthcare industry. Dmitriev said that Russian scientists modified the medicine to enhance its effect. According to him, Moscow will be ready to share the details of these modifications in the next two weeks.