The First Domestic Original Drug for the Treatment of COVID-19: Azvudine

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE To summarize the basic information, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, safety, interactions, and precautions of azvudine, to provide references for its clinical use. METHODS Literatures related to azvudine from the official website of Chinese clinical trial regi stry, clinicaltrials.gov, Pubmed, CNKI and Wanfang were systematically searched and summarized. RESULTS Azvudine is an oral small-molecule corona virus disease(COVID-19) treatment drug independently developed by China. As a nucleoside analogue targeting to viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRp), it can inhibit RNA virus reverse transcription process and replication process. The results of phase III clinical trials showed that azvudine could significantly shorten the time of nucleic acid conversion in patients with mild to moderate corona virus disease (COVID-19). Compared with the control group, the azvudine group can significantly shorten the improvement time of pneumonia. For moderate and severe patients, azvudine treatment also showed significant therapeutic effects in the time of nucleic acid conversion, discharge, and rehabilitation. CONCLUSION The drug possesses good safety and tolerability in patients, which provide a choice for the clinical treatment of COVID-19.