Does the New Coronavirus Medicine Work? 'We'll See by Trying,' Says Professor

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Turkey will try and see whether the medicine it imported from China works on Covid-19 patients, according to a professor of medicine from the Turkish Medical Association (TTB).

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced yesterday (March 24) that "a promising drug" for the novel coronavirus has been imported from China and distributed to 40 cities. "The new drugs will be used by Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care units," he stated.

Abdülkadir Selvi, a columnist for Hürriyet newspaper, said today that the first batch of the drug contained 1,250 boxes and the first results were expected to be seen next week, citing the Science Committee affiliated with the Health Ministry.

The drug named "Favipiravir" reduces the treatment period for Covid-19 from 11 days to four days, according to China's Embassy to Turkey.

However, the fact that a drug would be used in treatment while still in the trial-research phase has caused concern.

"Too early to say anything about treatments"

As currently there is no antiviral specific to Covid-19, other drugs are being tried, Prof. Özlem-Kurt Azap, an infectious diseases specialist from the TTB's Covid-19 Monitoring Group, told bianet.

"This is one of the drug groups we know, but its effect is not yet known. But there is no effective drug specific to this disease anyway. So other antivirals are being tried, malaria or AIDS medications were previously tried.

"Some shortcuts can be used all around the world in the cases of a pandemic, and shortcuts can be chosen in drug development studies, licensing, or procedures for use in other countries. There is nothing strange here. You are very helpless in severe patients, use all the drugs that can be used. We will see it by trying and living... "

As data on the disease has been available since January, a vaccine is one year away at best and it is too early to say anything about treatments, she added.

Turkish Pharmacists' Association Chair Erdoğan Çolak said that the drug has been used in treatments and received 80 percent response according to scientific studies. "For this reason, the Health Ministry stepped in and sent the drug to cities where there is an intense circulation of patients."

"I don't think it's licensed in Turkey. It is a drug that we don't know. It wouldn't be right to comment on a drug that we don't know whether it works and about its side effects," said Cenap Sarıalioğlu, the chair of İstanbul Pharmacists' Chamber.

Turkey also started working for indigenous drugs and vaccine for the disease, Prof. Nesrin Özören, the chair of the Molecular Biology Association and a member of the Health Ministry's Science Committee, told reporters today.

While the efforts for medicine could yield results in three or four months, they need six months to one year for a vaccine, she said.

Turkey has so far confirmed 1,872 cases and 44 deaths of Covid-19. (AS/VK)