Turkey begins production of local version of favipiravir against COVID-19
BY DAILY SABAH WITH AGENCIES
JUL 14, 2020 12:24 PM
Turkey’s “local and national” initiative to boost domestic production finds another niche amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A pharmaceuticals company endorsed by the government
started manufacturing domestically developed synthesis of favipiravir, a drug found to be effective against the coronavirus based on early trials.
Thus, the country will not have to rely on imports of the drug from China anymore.
Licensed by Health Ministry on July 10,
the synthesis is the work of a team of researchers
led by associate professor Mustafa Güzel from Istanbul Medipol University.
The first batch of the production or 10,000 boxes, will be donated to the Health Ministry for its use at hospitals across Turkey.
Güzel, who has 80 patents on his name in medicine development, returned to Turkey five years ago from the United States where he worked for pharmaceutical giants for years.
“We worked day and night with my team for 40 days and succeeded (in producing favipiravir domestically),”
Güzel told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Tuesday.
This is a Japanese-developed drug produced by China.
Turkish firms have long been successful in manufacturing generic drugs but most firms import raw material for production.
At a time of the pandemic,
when imports are limited or canceled, you cannot produce it.
So, for our generic drug, we synthesized the molecules and were able to produce raw material entirely with our own means.
The cooperation between university, public sector and industry enabled this,” he said.
Daily Sabah