Animal medicine Vitalang-2 proves effective in fighting SARS-CoV-2 - trials
NOVOSIBIRSK. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Scientists from the Novosibirsk-based Federal Research Center of Fundamental and Translational Medicine confirmed the effectiveness of the animal medicine Vitalang-2 for treating SARS-CoV-2, the causative virus of Covid-19, during the first stage of preclinical trials, Olga Dorokhova, secretary of the interagency working group for coronavirus of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), told Interfax.
"The results of the first phase of the preclinical trials aimed at confirming the specific antiviral effectiveness of the amphiphilic RNA of the medicine Vitalang-2 while treating the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection were presented at the latest meeting of the interagency working group for the coronavirus infection of the RAS Siberian branch," she said.
The animal antiviral medicine Vitalang-2 was selected and forwarded to the Russian government within the first package of developments by institutes of the RAS Siberian branch and small innovative enterprises of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center with a recommendation to carry out fast-track clinical trials in order to authorize its use on humans, Dorokhova said.
"The first phase of the trials has recently been completed. It confirmed this medication's non-toxicity and high effectiveness. The antiviral medicine Vitalang-2 is used to treat infectious diseases. Vitalang-2 is a new-generation RNA-based medicine as compared with its predecessor Ridostin, which was developed in the Soviet Union to be used as part of comprehensive therapy during viral diseases," she said.
The conclusion dealing with the results of the trials says it was confirmed that the medicine Vitalang-2 based on VERO cells is absolutely non-toxic in the approved concentrations, she said. Furthermore, there is total certainty that higher doses of this medicine contribute to therapeutic effect and help inactivate epidemic isolates of the virus which causes Covid-19.
The medicine's producer, NPO Sibbiovet, has already launched the next stage of the trials, using biological models, Dorokhova said.