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“Remdesivir”, “favipiravir”, “tocilizumab” and “dexamethasone” or “methylprednisolone” are the key drugs used to treat corona disease patients in Serbia, and the clinical pharmacologist and prof. Dr. Srdjan Pesic reveals to Kurir who it is given to, what it is used for, and how each of these medications helps.
The public’s greatest interest is caused by “remdesivir”, which is being used to treat patients in Serbia as of Monday.
Ebola and sars
– The effect of the drug “remdesivir”, which was previously tested in the treatment of Ebola and SARS, has been tested since March and has been shown to give good results in the treatment of the crown, shortens the course of the disease and alleviates the symptoms. This medicine is administered exclusively intravenously in hospital conditions and in the most difficult patients, who are on oxygen support, a ventilator or have severe pneumonia. The drug is extremely expensive, but it can prevent, for example, putting on a respirator or other complications of the disease. “Remdesivir” actually prevents the reproduction of the crown in the body by blocking one of the enzymes that are responsible for the multiplication of this virus – says prof. Pesic.
He adds that the drug “favipiravir” also belongs to the group of antiviral drugs and has a similar effect to “remedesivir”:
– It is a drug that was previously used in Japan, China and Russia for the treatment of seasonal flu, and it has also proven its effectiveness in the crown. We have had it in hospitals for months. It is administered in tablets and in patients with milder forms of kovid 19 and stops the transition from the mild to the severe form of the disease.
Cycotinx Storm
The “tocilizumab” belongs to the group of immunomodulatory drugs, that is, it increases the immune response and the body’s defenses in the fight against the disease.
– In severe patients, the so-called cytokine storm can occur, which is actually an excessive reaction of our immune system to the disease, and which damages its own organs and results in severe inflammatory changes. This immune response disease produces the protein interlukin-6, and “tocilizumab” blocks that protein and prevents cytokine storm – explains Pešić, adding that it has been shown that in critically ill patients who are on oxygen or a respirator, the administration of ” dexamethasone “or” methylprednisolone “, but in small doses, because they belong to the group of corticosteroids that are not normally given for viral infections.
– However, numerous studies have shown that in smaller doses, these drugs reduce mortality from corona by one third and in patients on a ventilator by 20 percent. Recently we also started giving it to the most difficult patients in Serbia. All these drugs represent great progress in the basics of cancer therapy in Serbia. We still do not have a magic wand with which to completely cure kovid 19, but now we have the opportunity to prevent its serious forms and reduce mortality – concludes Pešić.
On drugs
- “Remdesivir” – an antiviral drug, given intravenously to the most serious patients, prevents the virus from multiplying in the body.
- “Favipiravir” – an antiviral drug, given in tablets to people with a mild form of covid, prevents possible complications.
- “Tocilizumab” – Increases the body’s immune response and prevents cytokine storm
- Corticosteroids “dexamethasone” or “methylprednisolone” are administered in the most severely ill patients and reduce mortality.
Kurir.rs/ Jelena Pronić Photo: Shutterstock
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