The pharmaceutical company Farmak was a recent meeting initiator between leading scientists and doctors from the United States and Italy who came to Ukraine to discuss the results of the latest scientific studies of coronavirus treatments with their Ukrainian colleagues.
The problem of combating the pandemic is urgent in Ukraine and worldwide. In our country, the number of patients with COVID-19 is growing daily. Although immunization of the population is quite active, none of the vaccines can guarantee that a person will not get infected. Therefore, the issue of early prevention and treatment of COVID-19 disease is now extremely relevant. Therefore, Farmak organized a scientific-practical conference on “New treatment strategies in COVID-19”.
During the conference, the researchers discussed the development of new and effective existing drugs for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. During discussions, a special attention was paid to the results of the studies of antivirals that had demonstrated therapeutic effects. The scientists from well-known universities and research institutions in the United States and Italy, together with their colleagues from Farmak, shared the experiences of partnership in the development of direct-acting antivirals, as well as the prospects for the development of other antiviral drugs.
How exactly do antivirals act? The virus is much smaller than bacteria, but this does not prevent it from destroying the cells. People often mistakenly believe that antibiotics can neutralize the virus, but this is not the case. It is important to understand that antibiotics are only effective against certain types of bacteria. In order to quickly and effectively deal with the virus, antivirals are used. Administered at the onset of the disease, they reduce the symptoms and shorten the course of the disease. It should also be understood that such drugs prevent virus replication.
According to the Italian scientist Stefano Elli, antivirals have great potential in the fight against the pandemic. The scientist presented a study showing the effects of enisamium on SARS-CoV-2 (a virus that causes COVID-19). Enisamium is better known to consumers as an active ingredient of a medicinal product produced by Farmak. According to the results of non-clinical and clinical studies, enisamium has confirmed its efficacy. Administration of the drug to the patients with moderate COVID-19 disease resulted in alleviation of the course of the disease in the subjects, prevented worsening of the patient’s clinical condition, eliminated fatal consequences and reduced days of hospitalization.
Pavlo Babich, a representative of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, also told about the positive experience of using the drug. He shared the results of the study of this drug used in patients with moderate COVID-19 disease.
“The studies show that the antiviral drug, successfully used in the treatment of influenza and ARVIs in 11 countries, and as recently established by the joint efforts of scientists from Ukraine, Germany and the UK, also shows clinical efficacy in patients with moderate COVID-19. Indeed, the drug has a wide spectrum of antiviral activity against RNA viruses that cause acute respiratory diseases due to the inhibition of the viral RNA polymerase, an enzyme essential for its replication”- commented Viktor Margitych, MD, Chief Scientific Adviser of JSC Farmak.
The summary of the reports by leading scientists from the United States, Italy and Ukraine is that antivirals are a powerful weapon in overcoming and preventing of the negative outcomes of COVID-19.
