The Drug Produced in Poland is To Support The Fight Against Coronavirus
Chloroquine has so far been used to treat, among others, malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. Now it is to support the fight against coronavirus in Poland. The Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices, and Biocidal Products issued a decision authorizing the drug ‘Arechin’, produced in Poland, containing chloroquine, for use in adjunctive therapy in SARS-CoV-2 infections.
Chloroquine has so far been used to treat, among others, malaria and rheumatoid arthritis. Now it is to support the fight against coronavirus in Poland. The Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices, and Biocidal Products issued a decision authorizing the drug ‘Arechin’, produced in Poland, containing chloroquine, for use in adjunctive therapy in SARS-CoV-2 infections.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is currently no vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Drugs that stop this virus from multiplying are also not available. Doctors use previously known drugs that help fight the symptoms of a viral disease, i.e. symptomatic treatment.
On Friday, the President of the Office for Registration of Medicinal Products, Medical Devices, and Biocidal Products issued a decision on the amendment to the marketing authorization for the medicinal product “Arechin” (containing the active substance chloroquine phosphate — ed.), Consisting in adding a new therapeutic indication: “Treatment adjunct to beta coronavirus infections such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 “and associated medicinal product dosage. The information was provided by both the Office and the drug manufacturer — Adamed Pharma SA.
The justification — as the pharmaceutical company stated on its website — was based “on the analysis of data from previously published clinical data”.
Jarosław Buczek, the spokesperson of the office, when asked about the reasons for such a decision, informed us on Sunday that “in the event of such a pandemic, in the absence of alternative treatment, and at the same time with the known positive safety profile of the medicinal product, the office in consultation and cooperation with the Ministry Health made a decision, bearing in mind the security of society. “
- The decision was made after expert analysis of data from previously published clinical data presented by the MAH in the change request. In these studies, the use of chloroquine in patients with COVID-19 reduced the number of exacerbations of pneumonia and shortened the duration of the disease — noted Jarosław Buczek. He added that there were no cases of serious side effects in the patients described in the study.
In vitro results have shown that chloroquine inhibits the multiplication or replication of the virus. In the assessed positive risk-benefit ratio, chloroquine phosphate can be used as an adjunct treatment in SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections, the office spokesman said.