The company, Kromis, a resident of the biomedical technologies cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation, received a product license from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation for the antiviral medication “Avifavir.”
Avifavir (the active agent is favipiravir) is the first Russian-made antiviral medication that interferes with the replicative mechanisms of the coronavirus. Favipiravir is well researched having been used against severe forms of flu in Japan since 2014 under the name “Avigan.” Kromis developed the synthesis method of the Russian molecule and conducted preclinical trials with grant support from the Skolkovo Foundation.
Arkady Dvorkovich, chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation:
“It’s difficult to overestimate the significance for us all that Kromis, a Skolkovo resident, created the drug, Avifavir. I would like to celebrate the quick result from this joint work between the Russian Investment Fund and the KhimRar group, which are the founders of Kromis. Since Kromis became a Skolkovo resident in 2016, the Skolkovo Foundation has allocated grant funding for the development of an innovative method of synthesizing the active ingredient of the drug as well as pre-clinical trials. This medicinal product, which is approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, is very necessary for beating the pandemic and will soon help patients. This event is of huge importance for Skolkovo and for us all.”
Elena Yakubova, CEO of KhimRar Pharma (co-founder of OOO Kromis):
“The situation in the country with the coronavirus epidemic has shown everyone how important it is to have our own innovative pharmaceuticals and what state tools for supporting innovation are able to quickly adapt in a crisis situation and make important decisions. Together with the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Moscow Instrument Engineering College (МПТ), the Skolkovo Foundation responded promptly and supported our project, allowing us to run parallel processes in order to choose the optimal means of synthesizing the active ingredient and to speed up the preclinical trials for Avifavir. This in its turn allowed for the launch of a clinical trial of the drug in record time and for patients’ access to effective treatment in Russian medical centers.”
To date, the Skolkovo Foundation residents have presented approximately 130 developments for minimizing and overcoming the consequences of the spread of the coronavirus infection. The Skolkovo Foundation has created a catalogue of the best domestic solutions for the pandemic in a special section of its website titled, “Stop Covid-19.
The online catalogue presents projects on new testing technologies, promising medicines, analytics using artificial intelligence, remote work services and online learning. These include:
K-Sky (К-Скай) - a system to test the seriousness of pneumonia using AI algorithms;
DRD (ДРД) - an express test for diagnosing Covid-19;
Tion (Тион) - equipment for effective air disinfection;
Biomicrogeli (Биомикрогели) - a line of patented disinfecting agents, “Eflikvir” (Эфликвир);
Uchi.ru, dnevnik.ru, Pelican, GlobalLab, Lingualeo, Netology group - solutions for organizing distance learning for children and adults;
MobilityLab (МобилитиЛаб), stakhanovets (Стахановец), Serchinform (Серчинформ), Perimetriks (Периметрикс) - solutions for efficient remote work.