Maharastra and Delhi (two of
the worst-hit states in the country) will be the first receive a batch of
Covifor in the country along with Hyderabad, Gujarat and Telangana.
|
O
|
n June 21st, the Hyderabad
based pharmaceutical company Hetero announced in a press release that it has
got approval from the Drug Controller of India to make and market a generic
version of the antiviral drug remdesivir in India under the name Covifor. The
same day, Cipla, the Mumbai-based pharmaceutical firm also announced their own
version of remdesivir, called Cipremi.
Remdesivir is originally owned
by the American Biotechnology firm Gilead Sciences. The drug had got emergency
use authorisation for severe COVID-19 cases (suspected or confirmed) by the US
Food and Drug Administration in May on the basis of the existing evidence for
its efficiency in the management of the infection.
Even in India, the drug is
under restricted emergency use, which supposedly means that doctors will need
patient consent before giving them the drug and patients will need a doctor to
prescribe and administer the drug.
As per media reports,
Maharastra and Delhi (two of the worst-hit states in the country) will be the
first receive a batch of Covifor in the country along with Hyderabad, Gujarat
and Telangana.
Given the recent developments,
you may have a few questions about the drug. Here are the answers to the five
most common queries:
What is Covifor?
Covifor is the generic version
of remdesivir being marketed by Hetero in India. Remdesivir is a nucleoside
analogue which was developed in 2010 to fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
Though it was well-tolerated in ebola patients, it wasn’t as effective as some
other therapies. Later, the drug was found to be effective against SARS and
MERS, two diseases caused by coronaviruses that are closely related to the
COVID-19 causing coronavirus.
Nucleosides are made from
sugar and nitrogenous base and are the building blocks of DNA and RNA.
Nucleoside analogues look like nucleosides and interfere with viral replication
and keep new viruses from being formed inside the body.
Nucleoside analogues are
currently being used to treat other conditions such as cytomegalovirus, HIV and
hepatitis B.
How does remdesivir work?
Remdesivir is an inactivated
version of a nucleoside called adenosine - there are four nucleoside bases in
the body: adenosine, guanosine, cytosine and thymine. Once, it gets inside the
body, it is metabolized and activated. This activated remdesivir then inhibits
the function of the RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2. RNA polymerase is an enzyme
that is responsible for creating multiple copies of the viral RNA inside cells.
What is the scientific evidence for remdesivir’s effects?
Various trials have been
conducted to study the effects of remdesivir against COVID-19. One such trial
conducted by the National Institute of Health, USA suggested that remdesivir
can improve the recovery time of COVID-19 patients by 31% and the patients are
able to leave the hospital on day 11 as compared to day 15 when they got
standard treatment.
Results from the clinical
trials conducted by Gilead Sciences show that severe COVID-19 patients showed
improvement in symptoms within 10 and 11 days when they were given remdesivir
for 5 and 10 days respectively. About 65% of people with moderate disease show
improvement by day 11 with a 5-day treatment as compared to those who got
standard care.
Does Covifor have any side
effects?
The FDA suggests that remdesivir
may cause an increase in live enzymes, a sign of liver injury.
Remdesivir is currently only
authorised to be given intravenously. There is a risk that it can cause an
infusion-related reaction (hypersensitivity to the drug administration) in
patients. An infusion-related reaction shows up as nausea, vomiting, sweating
and shivering.
Can every severe COVID-19
patient be given Covifor?
As per the guidelines of the
Government of India, remdesivir will not be given to pregnant or breastfeeding
women, children under the age of 12 years, those with severe kidney damage,
those who need hemodialysis, and people who have 5 times the normal level of
liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase.
No comments:
Post a Comment