There is no doubt that vaccinations are the most important in the war against the coronavirus. But immediately after them are the intravenous or oral medications, two of which are already successfully used and even manufactured in Hungary.
Such is remdesivir, which was first used to control the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which lasted from 2013 to 2016. After the successful tests, this was the first drug approved by the Hungarian authorities for the treatment of COVID-19, and Richter Gedeon Rt. started manufacturing it. This anti-viral agent can be given to hospitalized patients who require oxygen treatment and are in a serious condition. (It was already used on 1,500 patients throughout last year.)
After that, they approved favipiravir, which the domestic EGIS pharmaceutical company started producing in April last year, and it can now be prescribed by family doctors for confirmed covid patients with mild or moderate symptoms. (We received the first dose of 400,000 from China...) With the use of the medicine, the condition of the lungs improved in 91 percent of the patients, but only in 62 percent without it.
The third domestically produced drug could be ivermectin, which is being tested simultaneously in many places around the world. Trialsitenews wrote about the fact that at the beginning of this month the testing will also start here with the approval of the OGYÉI and the Health Science Council . Ivermectin was discovered in 1975 and entered medical use in 2002 to treat a variety of parasitic infections.
The scientific world must now decide whether or not it can be used to treat patients with COVID-19, and if so, what side effects should be expected.
In Hungary, testing will start in three institutions these days. At the Centum Hospital in Dél-Pest, the Korányi Institute of Pulmonology and the University of Debrecen. This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted on 70 volunteer, asymptomatic and mildly severe COVID-19 patients at the three locations. The length of the clinical trials also depends on when 70 volunteer applicants are found in the three institutions.
When the test is completed, the WHO compares the results with reports from other countries (meta-analysis) and then the fate of ivermectin is decided. If everything goes well (which cannot be known yet), then the medicine will be manufactured here by Meditop Kft., a leader in innovative drug development, founded in 1991, which also produces favipiravir alongside EGIS.
