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Gamaleya Center’s anti-coronavirus medicine may be registered within 3-5 months

Deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology Denis Logunov added that it will depend on how quickly its will be possible to recruit volunteers for the clinical tests

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The monoclonal antibody-based drug for treating COVID-19 that was developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Center may be registered within three to five months, Denis Logunov, deputy director of the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, the developer of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, said on Sunday.

"The Gamalyea Center focuses on two directions. The first one is the work with monoclonal antibodies. The medicine is at a high degree of readiness. We will begin clinical tests in the near future. I hope we will receive a permit in January. And I hope it will be registered within three to five months," he said, adding that it will depend on how quickly its will be possible to recruit volunteers for the clinical tests.

"Another area is chemotherapy, chemical substances. As for this, we are at an initial stage because the financing program, the discovery of a certain class of substances took place not long ago. <…> More time is needed. I think that we will be able to register this medicine by the end of 2022," he noted.

Dmitry Shcheblyakov of the Gamaleya Center told TASS earlier that the monoclonal antibody-based drug for treating COVID-19 had shown high promise during its pre-clinical tests.

According to the latest statistics, around 257.2 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 5.1 million deaths have been reported.

To date, 9,331,158 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 8,024,930 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 264,095 fatalities nationwide. The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.