Emergency use nod for Virafin

Q. What is the news?
A.  The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) granted emergency use approval for pharma major Zydus Cadila’s antiviral drug ‘Virafin’, to treat moderate COVID-19 disease in adults.

Q. What is Virafin? 

• It is used in treating people with chronic hepatitis B and C. 
• When administered early on during COVID, Virafin will help patients recover faster and avoid much of the complications.
• It significantly reduces viral load when given early on and can help in better disease management.

Q. What are the findings of the clinical trials? 

• A single dose subcutaneous regimen of the antiviral Virafin [a pegylated interferon alpha-2b (PegIFN)] will make the treatment more convenient for the patients.
• When administered early on during COVID, Virafin will help patients recover faster and avoid much of the complications.
• In the phase-3 trials, the drug was able to achieve “better clinical improvement in the patients suffering from COVID-19”.
• A “higher proportion (91.15%) of patients administered the drug were RT-PCR negative by day seven as it ensures faster viral clearance”.
• The drug reduced the duration for supplemental oxygen to 56 hours from 84 hours in moderate COVID-19 patients.

Q. How the drug works? 

• Type I interferons are the body’s first line of defence against many viral infections.
• In old people, the ability to produce interferon alpha in response to viral infections gets reduced, which might be the reason for higher mortality.
• The drug when administered early during the disease can replace this deficiency and help in the recovery process.