The uniqueness of the Russian new medicine created to combat the cytokine storm caused by COVID-19 lies in its absolute safety for people of different age groups, as stated in an interview with RT by the Director of the Scientific Centre for Biomedical Technologies of the FMBA of Russia Vladislav Karkishchenko.
In May 2021, the new Russian medicine “Leytragin” developed by the Federal Medical-Biological Agency (FMBA) of Russia was registered. It has become the first drug of a new class of anti-inflammatory class with the uniqueness of the ability to calm the cytokine storm and at the same time being absolutely safe, unlike drugs containing hormones.
Being the first and only delta-opioid receptor agonist in the world, “Leytragin” does not depend on the coronavirus strains – due to the fact that it is inhaled, it is used to treat viral pneumonia, which can be caused not only by SARS-CoV-2 and cytokine storm. Thus, “Leytragin” is mainly aimed at suppressing inflammatory processes in humans and animals, though it’s currently recommended only for coronavirus treatment.
In the study published in the Journal of Immunology Research, Russian scientists were able to experimentally prove that opioid receptors trigger processes that have a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, without causing any damage to a person. So, the Russian “Leytragin” acts like hormones but goes by a ‘receptor way’.
It is clarified that the drug is allowed only for patients with moderate severity of the disease. However, doctors also used the drug for severe cases — they took responsibility for its use, after which neither deaths nor deterioration of the condition of patients were observed.
As specified, during clinical trials on patients in a state of moderate severity, none were admitted to the intensive care unit after taking the new medicine and recovery occurred after 8 days (on the contrary to the standard 14 days with the regular therapy). Also, the treatment can be applied at home using a conventional nebulizer. The intake of the medicine should take 40-60 minutes with the procedure carried out once a day.
According to the expert, the distribution and introduction of the new drug will be carried out in the near future. The drug has already been approved by the country’s Ministry of Health and soon they will start additional clinical trials to preserve the medicine’s registration certificate in the future. To date, in the instructions, it is said that the new medicine will be used directly in medical and preventive institutions only with a doctor’s prescription.
Ru-Main, 12.10.2021
Source: RT
