Seventeen more countries can get Russia's coronavirus vaccine Avifavir in addition to the six where the treatment is already sold, Russia's Direct Investment Fund says.
Avifavir and other favipiravir-based vaccines manufactured in Russia, including the U.S.-developed Remdesivir are currently the world's leading treatments against COVID-19. Produced by Russia's ChemRar biotech group, Avifavir is the world's first vaccine to be registered to treat the virus.
The Russian vaccine was granted a registration certificate in May by the country's health authorities and is based on Favipiravir, the generic type of an anti-flu treatment developed by Fujifilm in 2014 and is generally used in the country as the foundation for viral treatments.
Around five months following the clinical tests of Avifavir in Russia, the effectiveness of Favipiravir in combating COVID-19 infection was validated by Japan's Fujifilm group.
European Union member states Slovakia, Bulgaria, Serbia, including Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and several Latin American nations, are among the latest regions to be given supplies of Avifavir, the Russian sovereign wealth fund announced in a statement.
On Sept. 23 this year, Fujifilm said based on findings of the company's third stage clinical tests, the use of its favipiravir-based vaccine Avigan to 156 participants indicated a reduced time to resolution as those who have been given a placebo.
The effectiveness of Avifavir has been proven in clinical tests that have exceeded in terms of scale those initiated by other Russian developers of Favipiravir. These tests have been made in accordance with international standards.
Russia has already produced three COVID vaccines, two of which were made available in drugstores across the nation beginning this week.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir lauded his government's efforts in keeping the virus at bay, during a Tuesday address to the United Nations General Assembly, extending an invitation to the international community for a collaboration over the country's Sputnik V treatment program.
