Russia has approved a new antiviral drug, Coronavir, to treat COVID-19 patients, its developer R-Pharm said on Wednesday, as Russia's tally of infections hit 700,000.

It said a clinical trial involving mild or medium-level cases had shown the drug to be highly effective in inhibiting replication of the new coronavirus. 

"Coronavir is one of the first drugs in Russia and in the world that does not tackle the complications caused by SARS-CoV-2, but battles the virus itself," the company's statement said. 

It said a clinical study showed improvement in 55 percent of outpatient cases on the seventh day of treatment with Coronavir, against 20 percent of those with standard etiotropic therapy – meaning treatment of cause rather than symptoms. R-Pharm said there was also a significant difference at 14 days. 

By the fifth day of treatment, the novel coronavirus had been eliminated in 77.5 percent of patients who took the drug, R-Pharm said.

"Global clinical practice and the clinical study we conducted have confirmed that Coronavir puts a much more rapid stop to the infection as a result of its effective obstruction of the virus's replication," Mikhail Samsonov, R-Pharm's medical director, was cited as saying. 

       Source: Reuters