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Russian biotech company BIOCAD has registered a locally developed drug to treat complications in COVID-19 patients, confirmed the general director of the company, Dmitry Morozov, during an interview on Monday.
Use of interleukin-6 glycoprotein inhibitor Levilimab in COVID-19 patients is aimed at either preventing or curbing the so-called ‘cytokine storm,’ in which the patient’s immune system is overloaded and the resulting inflammation can lead to potentially fatal tissue and organ damage.
The registration, which was confirmed by Russia’s Health Ministry on Saturday, is the second state-approved COVID-19 related drug in Russia after Avifavir, a domestic version of the Japanese drug Favipiravir.
The drug has undergone testing since 2016 as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, but when the COVID-19 outbreak hit Russia, Morozov started testing its results for patients with COVID-19. Morozov stated that Levilimab, which will be marketed under the name ILSIRA, could be given to patients at “the first signs of cytokine storm, then most likely we can stop the process,” and that its use is “a good step forward for us to significantly reduce patient mortality with COVID-19.”
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