Russian Scientists Have Created a New Drug for Influenza

A group of researchers that included staff of TSU, the Institute for Problems of Chemical and Energetic Technologies of the Siberian Branch of the RAS (IPCET SB RAS, Biysk), and the Research Institute of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine E.D. Goldberg, has developed a new technology for synthesizing the pharmaceutical substance oseltamivir ethoxysuccinate and received a drug with a double antiviral effect.

Most pharmaceutical substances are made in China. For Russia, it is important to change this proportion by creating domestic drugs that are not inferior in effectiveness to foreign ones, – says Alexander Vorozhtsov, Vice-Rector of TSU for Science and Innovation, a senior researcher at the IPCET SB RAS. – One of these drugs is the result of the joint work of TSU, two academic institutions, and the research and production center Chemical Technologies. A new technical solution proposed by scientists of the IPCET SB RAS helps to obtain oseltamivir with a high yield of the finished product in relation to the raw materials. There is already a finished form, and the drug has received a patent.

“The results of preclinical studies have shown that the new drug has improved characteristics”, – notes Zhanna Spitsko, a staff member of Chemical Technologies and Siberian State Medical University. “For example, its antiviral activity was almost twice as high as that of the well-known Swiss drug Tamiflu, which is widely used to treat flu. Studies by Siberian pharmacologists have shown that the new drug has low general and chronic toxicity and does not have mutagenic, carcinogenic, or allergenic effects”.

Biological studies have confirmed the potential of further clinical studies of the new drug for the treatment and prevention of influenza. Given that the synthesis scheme of oseltamivir ethoxysuccinate is simplified and based on the use of more affordable starting compounds, it is expected that the production of a medicinal product based on it and the final cost to the consumer will be significantly lower than the cost of a foreign version. According to the developers, the innovative oseltamivir may appear on the market by 2025.

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