For Ural's organic chemists, this autumn has become unprecedentedly fruitful in terms of practical results. Recently, Academician Oleg Chupakhin, IOS research adviser, Academician Valery Charushin, IOS Director, and Corresponding Member Vladimir Rusinov, Head of the Department of Organic and Molecular Chemistry at the Chemical-Technological Institute of the Ural Federal University, visited the Medsintez plant in Novouralsk to make sure the production cycle of Triazavirin, the antiviral drug they created, runs seamlessly. This is an example of a real connection between fundamental science and production and an important milestone in the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.

Triazavirin is a product created by the Ural school of medical chemistry established by Academician I. Postovsky (1898-1980). This is an original medicine of the so-called azoloazine series. Its creation and trials took experts from IOS, UrFU (former UGTU-UPI) and their partners almost three decades. The Medsintez plant, which is focused on import substitution, was granted a registration certificate for Triazavirin production in 2014. Gradually, it was found out that the drug recommended for influenza actually has a wider spectrum of action. Today, doctors successfully use it for acute respiratory viral infections, tick-borne encephalitis and other conditions. That said, it has been practically proven that the innovative drug, in terms of efficacy, not only is not inferior to its foreign counterparts, such as popular Tamiflu, but sometimes surpasses them and is much more affordable.

The production of Triazavirin was a real breakthrough. Here is how Academician O. Chupakhin explains what it means: 'Most of our pharmaceutical companies produce finished dosage forms. However, a finished drug is not only about the active agent it contains. In any pill or capsule, an active ingredient which affects, say, a headache, accounts for only a half, even though the most significant one. The rest is fillers, wafers, a blister package (a plastic case) and boxes. The core, which is the essence of a drug that professionals call 'substance', is typically ordered or bought abroad. Triazavirin's substance was synthesized at the plant from the ground up. Brand-new and with no analogues in the world, it was conceived, developed and embodied in a specific technology in the Ural region.'

Alexander Petrov, Chairman of Medsintez Board of Directors, and Aleksey Podkorytov, Director of the plant, gave the scientists a tour around the enterprise and showed the process in action. The impressions surpassed the best expectations. Prior to entering the substance workshop, you have to put on three pairs of shoe covers, and before you touch a door handle, you should wash your hands. And even after that, some manufacturing processes can be watched through the glass only. The cutting-edge equipment and minimum people; the process is controlled from the operator’s room by sending commands from the control board. Scaling the technology, bringing the development to the industrial implementation stage and commercialization of the results were carried out on the premises of the Ural Centre for Biopharmaceutical Technologies, a resident of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre. This year, the substance manufacturing workshop was upgraded in terms of automation to minimize the possibility of human mistakes, achieve maximum purity and increase the yield. All this is done in full compliance with the international GMP (good manufacturing practice) rules, which are strictly followed at Medsintez.

Based on the visit's outcomes, the researchers unambiguously confirmed their willingness to partner with the Novouralsk plant on a long-term basis. According to their unanimous conviction, not only the enterprise, academic institute and university but also the entire region and country will benefit from it. In fact, the established full-cycle production of Triazavirin is another step towards the revival of an independent industry dealing with the medicinal and bacteriological security of Russia. The project should take its rightful place in the framework of the world-class Ural scientific and educational centre, which is under development in Yekaterinburg today. And not only because of this specific drug, in spite of all its advantages. 'Triazavirin is not forever,' said Academician O. Chupakhin commenting on his visit to Novouralsk. 'Once upon a time, my teacher, Isaak Postovsky, created the sulfidine, a drug for wound infections, which means hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of saved lives. Today, it's a different time though: different requirements; viruses and bacteria tend to mutate, their resistance is changing. Sulfidin is neither used in medicine nor manufactured any more. The same thing will, sooner or later, happen with Triazavirin too. Therefore, now, it's time to think about medicines of the future. Ural and Yekaterinburg have all the necessary for the purpose: I. Postovsky's scientific school, which is one hundred years old, provided two out of ten domestic innovative drugs over the past two decades; at the Ural Federal University, chemical professionals are trained with the primary focus on the substance manufacturing; and finally, there is an excellent up-to-date production base allowing the synthesis of not only Triazavirin and its analogues but also other drugs that are still in development. However, we have to develop and support responsibly all the components of this established chain; if not, it may fail.' Source: https://www.poisknews.ru/news/virusam-boj-na-urale-nalazhen-polnyj-czikl-proizvodstva-unikalnogo-lekarstva/