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Judul : BPOM approves emergency use of antiviral drugs to treat COVID-19 patients

Nama Media : thejakartapost.com

Tanggal : 6 Oktober 2020

Halaman/URL : https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/10/06/bpom-approves-
emergency-use-of-antiviral-drugs-to-treat-covid-19-patients.html

Tipe Media : Online

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency
(BPOM) has issued emergency use
authorization (EUA) for two antiviral
drugs, favipiravir and remdesivir, to treat
COVID-19 patients.

The BPOM also granted permits in
September to several pharmaceutical
companies to produce the drugs. PT Beta
Pharmacon (Dexa Group) received a
permit to produce favipiravir, locally sold
under the Avigan brand. State-owned drug manufacturer PT Kimia Farma received
the permit to produce a generic favipiravir product, tempo.co reported on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, permits to produce remdesivir have been granted to PT Amarox Pharma
Global, which is a subsidiary of India's leading generic drug maker Hetero, as well as
to state-owned pharmaceutical firm PT Indofarma and local private firm PT Dexa
Medica.
Data from the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister show
that the government had previously given contractors the go-ahead to import COVID-
19 medication such as remdesivir, favipiravir, oseltamivir and lopinavir-ritonavir, all of
which will be distributed directly to hospitals treating coronavirus patients. The data
show that, by the end of 2020, the government expects to secure 670,000 vials of
remdesivir from foreign sources, but it also expects the drug to be manufactured in the
country starting in November.

In late September, Reuters reported that a late-stage study by Fujifilm Holdings Corps
of its antiviral drug Avigan showed that it reduced recovery times for COVID-19
patients with nonsevere symptoms. The Phase 3 clinical study of 156 patients in Japan
showed that those treated with Avigan improved after 11.9 days, versus 14.7 days for
a placebo group.
Meanwhile drugmaker Gilead Sciences said in a statement that a five-day course of
the remdesivir sped up recovery in moderately ill patients with pneumonia from
COVID-19. The drug has reportedly been administered to United States President
Donald Trump, who was announced COVID-19 positive last Friday. BPOM head
Penny K Lukito expects that they EUA issuance will help accelerate access to those
drugs for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.