Index – Economy – Hungary already has a drug against coronavirus

Zsuzsa Beke, director of communications and government relations for the pharmaceutical company, confirmed the information in the Index. This drug is perhaps the most promising at the moment, and the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has also received it.

The drugs produced so far with the active substance remdesivir allow the treatment of about 3,000 hospital patients.

Remdesivir is the first clinically proven agent to accelerate patient recovery and mortality trend.

– Zsuzsa Beke emphasized to our portal.

– are already available and can be administered to patients. He added that they can continually increase this amount as they progress through quality control. However, it is no longer Richter’s job to conduct the remaining clinical trials, he added.

The pharmaceutical plant was commissioned by the government in March and the development is also funded by the government. Richter will deliver the manufactured drugs, they will not be marketed, so the pharmaceutical company will not generate sales revenue, the director emphasized.

They fight the coronavirus on several fronts

The pharmaceutical company currently has five research and development themes aimed at the development or large-scale production of therapies for the treatment of patients with coronavirus, Zsuzsa Beke reported on our portal. There are several of them, which are biotechnology projects, where the active principle is produced in the biotechnology plant of the pharmaceutical factory delivered in Debrecen in 2012, and its synthetic production capacity in Budapest is also used.

Richter’s ongoing projects:

1. The already mentioned saved remdesivir. “We are proud that as a result of about five months of hard work, we have successfully solved the synthesis of the most effective drug remdesivir currently for the treatment of patients with severe COVID, which we have successfully manufactured,” said Zsuzsa Beke.
2. Richter is also a member of a Japanese consortium. favipiravir domestic development of the active ingredient. This project is also currently ongoing, here Richter is involved in the manufacture of active ingredients.
3. A biosimilar produced by biotechnology tocilizumab drug development has already been bought. “Tocilizumab is primarily a biologic that is used in rheumatologic indications, but its use has also been suggested for the treatment of COVID patients who show inflammatory symptoms as a result of a viral infection.” Studies are still ongoing here, and it looks like this could be good against coronavirus as well.
4. the vaccine The company also has an interest in manufacturing through its joint venture with Richter-Helm Biologics, ie Helm AG. In April, an agreement was reached with INOVIO, registered in the United States, to manufacture a DNA-based vaccine. This vaccine is currently in development and is expected to enter the Phase 3 clinical phase before the end of the year.
5. Richter is also a member of a consortium seeking a therapeutic solution for COVID as part of the development of original biotech drugs. the ACE2 fusion protein It could also be a drug used to treat COVID patients, the protein is expected to be able to neutralize the virus on the one hand and kill cells infected by the virus through the immune response it triggers, explained the director of communications for the director. pharmacist. This is a very early stage development that requires more preclinical and clinical trials, and the market launch is expected to take several more years, even with successful trials. The development of this protein is carried out with state support by a consortium of researchers and drug developers from four institutions: Eötvös Loránd University, Pécs University, ImmunoGenes Kft. And Richter Gedeon Nyrt. The consortium is led by the Department of Immunology of the Faculty of Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University, headed by Professor Imre Kacskovics.

The advertising name for Richter Gedeon Nyrt. Pharmaceutical factory on the facade of a building in the center of Budapest.

Photo: Faludi Imre / MTI

Zsuzsa Beke emphasized that

Regarding the development and production of vaccines, Richter does not have a profile, they do not have traditional knowledge in this area, nor do they have their own development project, so they cannot comment on the expected availability of the vaccine.

According to the director, the epidemic situation clearly confirmed the viability of Richter’s vertically integrated business model and, at the same time, its indispensable ability to ensure a stable supply of medicines to domestic patients.

This business model allows the development of research, the production of active substances and finished products, as well as any other phase prior to the commercialization of the production distribution chain that takes place in Hungary, which guarantees a complete independence from foreign sources.

– Zsuzsa Beke told the Index, adding that this is not only decisive for security of supply, but also of great importance for the national economy.

(Cover image: A patient infected with a coronavirus is cared for by a doctor with protective equipment in an isolation room installed at the Korányi National Institute of Pulmonology on April 21, 2020. Photo: Károly Árvai / kormany.hu / MTI )