Triazavirin has been recommended for use by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
PETERSBURG/YEKATERINBURG, December 30. /GeorgyLetov, Natalia Mikhalchenko, TASS correspondents/. A new domestic drug for severe forms of influenza, Triazavirin, was received by Russian medical specialists on the eve of a seasonal surge of the influenza incidence, which is typically recorded in late December - February."The drug was created by Vera Ilyenko, a researcher at the St. Petersburg Influenza Institute of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, and Oleg Chupakhin, academician and chief researcher at the Institute of Organic Synthesis of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It passed preclinical and clinical trials and got registered and recommended for use by the Ministry of Health," Oleg Kiselev, Director of Influenza Research Institute, shared with TASS.
As Oleg Kiselev pointed out, Triazavirin is effective for severe forms of influenza, including swine (H1N1) and bird (H5N1) flu, as well as other grave viral infections like Crimean hemorrhagic fever or West Nile fever. It is currently tested at the Ministry of Defense's Virology Centre in SergievPosad for efficacy for Ebola.
"The mass production has been deployed at the Medsintez plant (Novouralsk, Sverdlovsk region); the drug is already available in pharmacies," shared with TASS Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Yunona Holding, which includes the manufacturer plant.
Researchers do not expect that the advent of the new drug can help defeat flu for good, since this is one of the most changeable types of viruses known to science. For example, the world's first drug for influenza, Remantadine, created at the Influenza Institute in the 70s, remained highly effective for a long time, but has now lost its relevance just due to the rapid changeability of the influenza virus.
Source: TASS IA