Covid-19 drug Mir-19 efficacious against Centaur strain - FMBA

MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - The Covid-19 drug Mir-19, developed by the Immunology Institute of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA), is efficacious against Omicron variant sub-lineage BA.2.75 (Centaur) among others, the agency told Interfax.

"The Mir-19 drug is efficacious against the main coronavirus strains, including Centaur, as it targets the conservative part of the virus genome," the FMBA press service said on Thursday.

The Russian Health Ministry has included the drug in its provisional guidelines for use at hospitals, which are successfully treating Covid-19 patients with it, the agency said.

"Post-registration clinical trials of the drug are continuing at outpatient clinics," it said.

The Mir-19 inhalation drug was registered on December 22, 2021, after two phases of clinical trials but for hospital use only. Additional trials would be necessary to use the drug at home and to sell it in pharmacies, FMBA head Veronika Skvortsova said earlier. In her words, the post-registration trials will involve about 1,000 volunteers. The FMBA press service said on January 21 that the agency had applied for the Russian Health Ministry's permission to hold these post-registration clinical trials.

It was reported in February 2022 that the Russian Health Ministry had approved phase III clinical trials of Mir-19. The trials will be conducted on 1,274 volunteers at 11 healthcare establishments.