In a press release, the authority stated that “Molnipiravir” is the first oral treatment for adults at high risk, and it reduces the risk of hospitalization and death by half for patients with mild to moderate disease.
She stressed that the circulation of the drug will be restricted to hospitals only, to ensure its use under full medical supervision, and in accordance with the standards approved by the scientific committees to ensure continuous treatment follow-up.
For his part, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Acting Minister of Health, announced the government’s success in providing the anti-Coronavirus drug “molonoperavir”, thus making Egypt the first on the level of the continent of Africa and the Middle East and the fourth globally in providing the drug.
Dr. Tamer Essam, head of the Egyptian Medicines Authority, said that the drug molonoperavir obtained the emergency use license from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) as the first drug in the drug, which is capsules taken orally to treat simple and medium cases of infection with the Corona virus, referring to The success of the drug in reducing the odds of hospitalization by 50%.
He stressed that the Egyptian Medicines Authority succeeded in shortening the time period for licensing the drug for emergency use to eight months by increasing working times and a good extrapolation of the developments of clinical trials at the level of the countries of the world.
Dr. Tamer Essam pointed out that local companies have so far succeeded in producing about 25 thousand packages, with the availability of raw materials sufficient to manufacture about 150 thousand additional packages, as part of the Egyptian state’s efforts to mitigate the negative effects of the Corona virus pandemic.
In a related context, Dr. Jihan Al-Assal, Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Committee to Confront the Corona Virus at the Ministry of Health, said that this drug is a great achievement, which will contribute to saving the lives of many patients, and speeding up their recovery process.
She added that the product will be available inside hospitals only in the first stages of its use in Egypt, so as not to be misused outside hospitals, explaining that it will not be given to all patients, but to those at high risk only, from simple and medium cases.
She pointed out that the manufacture of the new drug in Egypt coincides with its introduction to the markets in America and England, pointing out that this will speed up recovery in the fastest time, by limiting the ability of the virus to reproduce, and then eliminating it.
For his part, Dr. Muhammad Al-Nadi, a member of the scientific committee to confront the Corona virus at the Ministry of Health, professor of chest diseases and director of the chest unit at Qasr Al-Aini Teaching Hospital, said that the drug Molnopiravir, leads to the rapid defeat of the virus.
He added that the clinical trials that took place on the drug globally, showed that there were about 775 people who took the drug, only 3.7% of them needed hospitalization, compared to 13.8% for other patients who did not receive the drug in the same circumstances, pointing out that it is used with exposed patients. Their condition deteriorated and they were hospitalized.
He explained that Egypt has self-sufficiency in the preparations used to treat corona and its metaphors, and has also succeeded in localizing the modern pharmaceutical industry used to confront the virus, such as Ramsdevir and Favipiravir.
For his part, Dr. George Maher, Marketing Director of Eva Pharma, the company that manufactures the drug in Egypt, said that the company succeeded in locally manufacturing the active substance of the drug molonoperavir Eva Pharma, indicating that the drug will be manufactured in quantities sufficient for the needs of the local market, and export to many countries.