MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2020) Clinical trials on Russian drug Favipiravir developed under the brand name Areplivir to treat COVID-19 patients are planned to be completed in 4-8 week, Dmitry Pushkar, the Russian Health Ministry's chief urologist and expert responsible for the study, told Sputnik.
"We hope that clinical trials will be completed within four to eight weeks, after which documents for [the drug's] registration will be submitted," Pushkar said.
The expert noted that clinical trials of the drug would be carried out on several hundred patients not only in Moscow but also in St. Petersburg and in the Russian republic of Mordovia, where the drug is produced.
At the first stage, the drug will be used only to treat patients with symptoms of medium severity. It will not be used yet on patients in serious condition � the ones who are treated by mechanical ventilation of lungs � as further studies should be conducted first, Pushkar added.
"It is absolutely certain that the drug will be developed before a vaccine, but we need to work in both directions," the expert said.
