Glenmark To Study Efficacy Of Two Antiviral Drugs For Covid-19 Treatment
The combination of the two antiviral drugs may prove effective in tackling early-stage Covid-19 patients, Glenmark says.
Drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. will undertake a new study to test the combined efficacy of two antiviral drugs as potential Covid-19 treatment regimen.
The two antiviral drugs, Favipiravir and Umifenovir, have different mechanism of action, and their combination may demonstrate improved treatment efficacy by effectively tackling high viral loads in patients in early stages of Covid-19, the drugmaker said.
The Glenmark study will examine whether early administration of a combination of Favipiravir and Umifenovir enhances antiviral efficacy on Covid-19 patients, it added.
Combining antiviral agents that have a good safety profile and act on different stages of viral lifecycle is an effective treatment approach to rapidly suppress initial high viral load and lead to overall improvement in clinical parameters," Glenmark Vice President Monika Tandon said in a statement.
The company expects that the study will be pivotal in leading to identification of highly effective and safe treatments against Covid-19 in India, she said.
Glenmark is already conducting phase three clinical trials of Favipiravir as Covid-19 monotherapy option with 150 patients, enrolled from nine leading government and private hospitals across the country. The results are expected by July or August.
On Tuesday, Glenmark shares fell 1.07% to Rs 348.05 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange while the benchmark Sensex shed 0.21% to end the day at 30,609.30 points.