Russian hi-tech pharma company R-Pharm hopes to start producing an innovative drug that aims to trap the new coronavirus in about 18 months, its chief executive, Vasily Ignatiev, has told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th April, 2020) Russian hi-tech pharma company R-Pharm hopes to start producing an innovative drug that aims to trap the new coronavirus in about 18 months, its chief executive, Vasily Ignatiev, has told Sputnik in an interview.
The research of the anti-viral drug is in the initial stage. R-Pharm has begun growing cell culture in its San Diego lab in the United States to test a candidate molecule, designed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering lung cells by tricking the virus into binding with it instead.
Ignatiev said it is too early to tell when the drug, which could inhibit viral growth and prevent the potentially deadly lung inflammation, will be ready but the company expects to "get to the production stage within 12 to 18 months."
"But we are talking about production readiness. Clinical readiness will depend. We heard about the difficulties our Chinese colleagues ran into during the outbreak in Wuhan. They launched a huge number of various research projects only to see the incidence drop. Now they do not have enough patients to finish their research," he explained.
The company remains cautious about its assessment, Ignatiev added, seeing the range of forecasts by virologists and epidemiologists about how the pandemic will progress in the mid-term.
The bioactive molecule at the core of the treatment will be studied in vitro before moving into the preclinical trial phase and eventually into clinical trials, which consist of three stages: tests on healthy volunteers to confirm that it is safe, finding the best dose, and proving its clinical efficacy.
"The research process depends heavily on the epidemiological situation. If it gets worse they might allow a combination of two clinical phases or a shorter trial protocol. But the 'do no harm' principle still stands," Ignatiev said.
Companies in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are in a race against time to produce vaccines and treatments that will help contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has infected more than a million people worldwide and killed tens of thousands.
Ignatiev, who is vice-chair of the Moscow-based Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, said R-Pharm's drug would be available to anyone interested in buying it, but added that, hopefully, an effective anti-viral treatment will be on sale soon.
"I hope that one of our friendly rivals can make it sooner than in 18 months because it is a rather long time. It is one of those times when we would love to be the first and the most effective ones, but we would not mind if the epidemic ended sooner and we canceled the project," he admitted.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 disease outbreak, which has been caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus, a pandemic on March 11.
